OPEN SECRETS: Digital Profiteers (Part 3): How combating fraud in SA’s digitalised grants system hurts the poor
Previously in this series, Open Secrets explored challenges arising from the reliance on commercial banks and other private entities to digitally verify grant recipients. The contracts obtained by Open Secrets highlighted the fees charged for these services and risks posed to grant recipients data. This article analyses a key feature of the income verification of grant recipients – combating…
In the final installment of a three-part series, Open Secrets investigates the challenges faced by South Africa's digitalised grants system in combating fraud, and how these measures disproportionately affect the poor. According to newly appointed Minister of Social Development Dina Pule, the department and South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) claim to have saved R1 billion in the 2025/26 financial period by reviewing more than 420,000 grant beneficiaries.
The aim is to review up to 350,000 beneficiaries in the 2026/27 period, with the goal of saving R1.5 billion for the government.
However, the implementation of these reviews has raised concerns about the potential harm to vulnerable individuals. In a recent interview, 67-year-old pensioner "B" from the Makause informal settlement shared his experience with the system. He was contacted in April 2024 by individuals claiming to be "volunteers from Sassa" to assist him with the grant review process.
They asked for his personal details and proceeded to deduct R205 per month from his old age pension grant for an African Unity funeral policy without his consent.
This situation highlights the risks associated with the government's framing of combating fraud within the digital verification process. As Pule stated, the more they save, the more people are covered with social assistance. However, the process appears to disproportionately affect the poor, who may not have the means or knowledge to contest unjust deductions.
B expressed his frustration, stating that African Unity did not provide any policy documents or official communications, and he has no contact information for the company to make a claim regarding the funeral cover.
Written by urgent.news from Daily Maverick's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
