R 800m grant fraud: Corrupt Easy Pay holds SASSA hostage

The DA in the Western Cape is alarmed that Easy Pay and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), both subsidiaries of Net1, will continue to disburse social grants to millions of beneficiaries despite reports of unlawful deductions taking place under their tenure, which has led to an R 800m loss to SASSA of which a mere R1,5m has been recovered.

In my capacity as the Chairperson of the Standing committee on Community Development in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP), I will call a joint committee meeting, along with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) where SASSA must explain the impact of the R 800m loss in grant money. I will also call on the entity to report on all matters relating to its financial management.

It is of grave concern SASSA will continue to use the corrupt CPS to disburse the grants for another 9 months until the contract with CPS expires. Terminating the contract before the 9 month period runs out would result in beneficiaries not receiving their grants at all as SASSA does not have the capacity to disburse grants themselves.

We are extremely concerned about the R 800m that has been lost by SASSA due to corruption and the impact this may have on its ability to deliver to beneficiaries who totally depend on social grants.

I have commissioned a committee report detailing the unlawful deductions. The report will focus on the failing Dispute Resolution Measures that have been in place since 2012, as was presented to the Standing Committee on Community Development yesterday. The report will also contain the submissions made by the public to the committee as well as recommendations made by the committee.

As it stands, SASSA is being held hostage by CPS and will continue to lose public money for the next 9 months at least.

The DA in the Western Cape remains committed to rooting out corruption. We will do all in our power to ensure that those who are found to be corrupt are held accountable.