Grant theft ‘not illegal’

Francesca Villette

IT IS open season for crooks to rip off pensioners and steal their grant money – as the SA State Security Agency (Sassa) admits it is not in a position to determine which deductions are authorised by pensioners and which are not.

This follows a probe by the Cape Times after a flood of complaints, mostly from the elderly poor, about their money “disappearing”.

State pensioner Magdalene Williams’s daughter, Carol Williams, contacted the Cape Times and said someone who claimed to work for Sassa had contacted her mother and R400 had been withdrawn from her mother’s account.

They are demanding answers from the agency.

Sassa spokesperson Kgomoco Diseko said the Williams matter had been “escalated” and was under investigation.

Sassa pays out social grants of about R10.6 billion to more than 16 million people a month. Senior citizens receive R1 410 monthly.

In response to the complaints, the Black Sash started a “Hands off our grants” campaign in November 2013. It has since logged hundreds of complaints across the country about illegal deductions for airtime, electricity and water from Sassa accounts.

Its regional manager, Colleen Ryan, said:

“The problem of unlawful and/or immoral debit deductions is systemic, with (a) serious impact on individual recipients and poor households.”

Diseko said: “Notwithstanding that Sassa has little control over debit transactions of a beneficiary’s account, we have gone the extra mile and confronted service providers over disputed transactions, and whenever it is proved that the beneficiary was not at fault, the money is returned to the beneficiary.

“Sassa may only authorise one deduction for funeral insurance or for a funeral scheme not exceeding 10 percent of the value of the beneficiary’s social grant, according to the law.”

Diseko said Sassa did not have information about the extent of fraudulent activities or the monetary value.

“Sassa may only allow deductions to be made directly from a social grant where the insurance company requiring such deduction – or to whom the money resulting from the deduction is paid – is a financial services provider as defined in section 1 of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (Act No 37 of 2002) and authorised to act as a financial services provider in terms of section 7 of that act,” said Diseko.

Sassa provincial spokesperson Shivani Wahab said: “Since the introduction of the Sassa card, complaints have been received from some social grant beneficiaries about deductions that they had not authorised. Sassa has made a concerted effort to stop these at source, but technically these deductions are not illegal, leaving Sassa with no grounds to take any action. Sassa is also not in a position to determine which deductions are authorised by beneficiaries and which (are) not.”

The Black Sash has recommended, among others, short, medium and long-term interventions to Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini, to stop unlawful and/or immoral debit deductions from Sassa accounts of social grant recipients.

Social Development MEC Albert Fritz said while his department did not have the authority to investigate alleged unlawful deductions, it had referred about 600 cases to Sassa over the last year.

“The problem affects everyone, no matter the colour of your skin or where you live. On Tuesday I received another flood of reports from pensioners living in Touws River and Laingsburg about their money disappearing,” Fritz said.

l To report unauthorised debits, contact the nearest Sassa office and lodge a dispute or call 0800 60 10 11.

francesca.villette@inl.co.za

@Francesca_Vill