HOW are civil servants drawing SASSA grants?

The scourge of civil servants drawing SASSA grants illegally is costing taxpayers more this year than it did last year. Of the R1.33 billion paid to ineligible beneficiaries in the last financial year (2025/26), R266.8 million went to people already earning a government salary.

Worse still, this figure is up from R260.7 million the year before. Even if overall leakage fell by about R1 billion, there is clearly a huge fraud issue that needs addressing. Auditor-General representative Puleng Molapo called it, “long-reported and pervasive mismanagement of public funds without consequences.”

CIVIL SERVANTS DRAWING SASSA GRANTS

A civil servant who applies for a South African Social Security Agency grant while also drawing a state salary can only do so with insider collusion. And Molapo explains that SASSA relies ‘greatly’ on what the applicants submit. There is a pervasive lack of integration between government systems that makes real-time verification difficult, and SASSA insiders know how to exploit the PERSAL government payroll system.

So, what can new SASSA minister Dina Pule do to solve the issue?

• IT systems should match civil servants drawing SASSA grants against PERSAL before approval.
• Checks should be done continuously, not once at application.
• Fix the manual monthly upload of Home Affairs data, which Molapo says lets deceased beneficiaries stay on the books.
• Restrict who can approve or amend beneficiary records on the backend.
• Recover overpayments and discipline employees who fail to declare grants, as the Auditor-General has previously recommended.

THERE ARE REAL VICTIMS TO THIS GOVERNMENT FRAUD

Worse still, civil servants drawing SASSA grants is by no means a victimless crime. Molapo says every R1 million lost could provide groceries for more than 100 vulnerable households every month. Even so, the point holds. R266.8 million is not an abstract amount of money when October 2026 brought no top-ups for needy pensioners. Every cent paid to someone with a government salary could and should have been spent on someone who really needs it …

But what do you think? What punishment should civil servants drawing SASSA grants face? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …