social grants

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is ‘unacceptable’ that the South African Social Security Agency's (SASSA) financial resources are being ‘abused’.
 
DA spokesperson, Patricia Kopane, points out that "If this government is serious about assisting those who are not in a financial position to assist themselves, it must urgently step in to address the mismanagement that appears to have pervaded every level of the agency."

The chief financial officer of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), Mpho Mofokeng, approved more than R500 000 in performance bonuses to 12 senior managers whose performance had not been evaluated.
 
Social Development Minister, Bathabile Dlamini, replying to a parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance’s social development spokesperson, Patricia Kopane, said an internal investigation of the circumstances of the awarding of the payments had found that they were made irregularly.
 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) says the establishment of an Inspectorate for Social Assistance will enable the South African Social Security Agency to better assist impoverished South Africans.

DA social development spokesperson, Patricia Kopane, points out that, "The DA believes that the introduction of a robust Inspectorate is of the utmost priority if the mismanagement and corruption that is rampant in [South African Social Security Agency] SASSA is to be abated."

Government’s social grants agency, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is working on various projects to tighten up their systems in order to deal with potential fraudsters.

SASSA chief executive, Virginia Petersen, told the National Press Club in Pretoria that they are busy with forensic and information technology audits to identify weaknesses in their system.

Meanwhile, thousands of fraudsters who were caught through the Special Investigation Unit’s probe have agreed to pay back the money.

It is better to make a difference than to be rich, according to Susan Steinman, head of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Economy at the University of Johannesburg.
 
Steinman says South Africa needs to stimulate social enterprises which focus on creating businesses for the primary purpose of social development.
 
"While start-up social enterprises are grant-dependent, mature social enterprises trade in goods or services to raise income for the social purpose and in many cases show a profit," she explains.
 

The chairperson of the National Development Agency (NDA), Malose Kekana, has called for different ways to alleviate poverty in the country.
 
Speaking at the appointment of the new NDA board in Johannesburg, Kekana pointed out that the one thing that the NDA has to do is to tap into those initiatives and leverage the little money that it has in order to reach more people.
 

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), which distributes social grants to more than 14 million people, has received a disclaimer from the Auditor-General, due to poor record-keeping in the past financial year.

The agency’s 2009-10 annual report was only filed in Parliament last week, several months after its due date. The financial statements were submitted to Auditor-General’s office only in August last year, instead of before May 31 as required by law.