LATEST: CEO discloses billions unspent on SASSA grants in 2024

In her annual report on SASSA grants for 2024 presented to Parliament, CEO Busisiwe Memela highlighted significant financial insights regarding the agency’s inefficiencies. She noted that funding for SASSA grants in 2024 is costing taxpayers over R250 billion. The South African Social Security Agency presented its 2023/2024 report to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development in Parliament earlier this month, reports The Citizen.

In it, the CEO of SASSA was able to clarify and shed light on many inaccurately reported details. Memela describes the social grant system as having two key pillars. She says SASSA services two distinct groups each month. The ‘core clients’ are made up by traditional grants recipients, such as Older Persons, Child Support, Disability and War Veterans. Then there is the rather more troublesome Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, which has been mired in accusations of data breaches and fraud.

SASSA GRANTS IN 2024

Here are some of the key financial specifics regarding SASSA grants in 2024:

• Social grants cost taxpayers more than R250 billion per year, which equates to 12% of the country’s national budget.
• 45% of the South African population receives social benefits.
• There are 28-million beneficiaries countrywide.
• The highest number of SASSA grants in 2024 are disbursed in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Eastern Cape respectively.
• 19-million people make up the agency’s core clients (Old Age, Child Support, Veterans and Disability).
• There are 9-million SRD recipients each month.
• Funding for SASSA grants in 2024 is drawn from three sources: Personal income tax – R739 billion. VAT – R467 billion and corporate income tax – R303 billion.

WHAT ABOUT THE IRREGULAR EXPENDITURE?

A recent Auditor-General’s report highlighted billions in misspent and under-utilised monies. R74 million can be attributed to the case it’s fighting with Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), which is awaiting an outcome with liquidators. The Auditor-General also revealed that nearly R15 million in grant payments were paid to people who were dead. SASSA defended this by saying deaths in remote rural areas aren’t always registered immediately.

A staggering R1.5 million in social grants in 2024 was paid to SASSA and Postbank employees, even though this is strictly illegal. Moreover, there’s the issue of R1.5-billion underspent on social welfare, due to changes to the means test, qualifying criteria and biometric verification, according to the agency. The largest portion of this is attributed to the Child Support Grant (R792 million) and SRD grant (R591 million). Why can’t it be distributed to those who need it like Older Persons?