SASSA in hot water with Auditor-General over missing R1.3-billion

SASSA, under the new leadership of new Minister Dina Pule, was hauled over the coals in Parliament this week. Latest Auditor-General findings reveal that the agency paid more than R1.3 billion in grants to people who were not eligible. This occurred between April 2025 and March 2026.

Meanwhile, in the background, October 2026 top-ups were denied for the first time in two years. Unforgivable within the context of rampant consumer inflation. And the agency is unable to solidify November 2026 payment dates due to an obvious and foreseeable clash with local elections …

SASSA IRREGULAR PAYMENTS R1.3 BILLION

The Auditor-General’s office briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on social development this week. “We see payments made after death, meaning the beneficiary is deceased,” said the AG’s Puleng Molapo. “We have seen payments made to invalid IDs.” Molapo even flagged people on the government payroll system, PERSAL, who were drawing a state salary and a social grant at the same time.

As such, the total of South African Social Security Agency misspending came to R1.33 billion. However, this is at least down by R1 billion from the R2.3 billion in irregular payments back in 2024/25. Below is a breakdown of how exactly SASSA funds were squandered according to the AG:

HOW EXACTLY SASSA FUNDS WERE LOST

• Incomplete SASSA database: R604.3 million, down sharply from R1.776 billion
• Government employees: R266.8 million, up slightly from R260.7 million
• Government Employees Pension Fund members: R235.1 million, down from R246.5 million
• Invalid ID documents: R18.9 million, up from R16.4 million

However, it will be the jump in payments to the deceased that’s most likely to unsettle MPs:

• Deceased beneficiaries: R211 million, up more than tenfold from R18.6 million

WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING

Molapo said SASSA relies on what applicants submit when registering their profiles. And that poor integration between government systems makes verification difficult. SASSA also loads Home Affairs data manually every month, which causes delays. The AG’s fix is investment in ICT systems that talk to each other faster. However, Molapo conceded that won’t be a quick fix.

Moreover, the AG correctly points out that every R1 million lost could provide a month’s worth of groceries to more than 100 vulnerable households. These persistent leakages contributed to a qualified audit opinion – for both SASSA and the Department of Social Development (DSD). To which Molapo said: “We have long reported on pervasive mismanagement and leakage of public funds without consequences at SASSA.”

MORE SASSA INDECISION IN NOVEMBER

Finally, the qualified audit lands as SASSA struggles on other fronts. October passed without a top-up for the core grant beneficiaries for the first time in two years. And with the 4 November local government elections clashing with the scheduled Disability Grant payday, SASSA still hasn’t finalised next month’s payment dates. It says it is still consulting with stakeholders, at the time of publishing. We will bring readers news of next month’s confirmed payment dates as soon as they are made official.

But what do you think? Are you happy to hear SASSA irregular spending is actually down from the previous year? Or is R1.3 billion still unacceptably high? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …