Social Development to rope in State security, SIU to fathom SRD Grant fraud

CAPE TOWN - Social Development Minister, Sisisi Tolashe says they have to rope in State security and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to get to the bottom of Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant fraud.

Tolashe says the extent of the SRD fraud is so "huge" that it involves other departments like Home Affairs due to the theft of people’s identity numbers.

The minister and the independent investigators who looked into the claims made by two first-year IT students briefed the Social Development committee on Wednesday.

Tolashe says a month-long investigation confirmed many of the allegations made by the two students.

While the investigators have made recommendations on how to improve security, Tolashe says the matter requires other law enforcement agencies.

“This is not a very small thing. This is a huge thing. Hence we will have to [work] with SSA (State Security Agency) as well as SIU.”

Stanley Matshote from independent service provider Masegare & Associates Incorporated told the committee that changes are needed to tighten security.

“So we recommend that SASSA [South African Social Security Agency) should implement biometric verification for a broader range of transactions at random intervals. This will improve fraud detection and capabilities and make it harder for fraudsters to bypass security measures.

Tolashe said the investigation was preliminary and the department would investigate further.