Minister Tolashe instructs SASSA to investigate alleged R350 SRD grants fraud

CAPE TOWN - Social Development Minister Nokuzola Tolashe says she’s directed the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to investigate allegations of fraud on the application of the R30 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. 

This comes after first-year IT students, Joel Cedras and Veer Gosai, published an article detailing how easy it is to defraud SASSA when applying for the grant. 

But Tolashe has told Parliament that SASSA cannot investigate the matter because the two students have not been forthcoming with evidence.

On Wednesday, the two students briefed the Social Development portfolio committee about their findings, which showed how the ID numbers of students had been fraudulently used to apply for the SRD grant without their knowledge. 

READ: Students who exposed SASSA payment system weaknesses want govt to reboot grant system

They said bank accounts have also been opened fraudulently to receive the payments. 

They also recommend that SASSA restart its grant system and verify applications from scratch.  

READ: Beneficiaries are still battling with SASSA’s new biometric system

But Tolashe said they can't complete their investigation due to a lack of information. 

"I wish to assure this committee that I view these allegations in the most serious light, and have directed SASSA to initiate investigations into the matter. However, in the absence of reliable information from the source of the allegations, SASSA has not been able to complete its investigation," said Tolashe.

However, the committee's members have called on SASSA to act urgently on the submission by the students and report back to the committee in a month.