The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has warned that officials who bypass its biometric verification system to process, verify or approve social grant applications will face criminal charges, dismissal and the freezing of their pension benefits.
The warning comes as the agency ramps up efforts to root out fraud and corruption and ensure grants are paid only to deserving beneficiaries.
“We have introduced various measures to root out fraudulent and corrupt elements at SASSA, and we are not going to rest until we know that we have officials who are ready to serve our people with integrity,” said SASSA CEO Themba Matlou.
He said the agency introduced Beneficiary Biometric Enrolment to combat identity theft and prevent grants from being paid to undeserving beneficiaries.
“As such, we introduced the Beneficiary Biometric Enrolment to deal with identity theft, thus ensuring that we pay social grants to deserving beneficiaries,” Matlou said.
