The Democratic Alliance has called for an investigation into tens of thousands of public service employees who applied for the Special Relief of Distress (SRD) grant of R350 per month, initiated by the government to help the most destitute – those unable to meet their or their families’ most basic needs following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The opposition party on Wednesday (24 March) called on the Social Security Agency of South Africa (SASSA) and the Department of Social Development (DSD) to urgently solicit the assistance of the Department of Public Service and Administration conclude the investigations into the public service employees who applied for the SRD grant, as well as the investigations into the 241 public service employees who received the SRD grant for the month of May 2020.<\/p>\n
“As of February 2021, an astonishing 39,672 public service employees had applied for the SRD grant. However, no disciplinary or legal action has been instituted against them as the SASSA-led investigations into their applications are still ongoing and have yet to be concluded,” the DA said.<\/p>\n
This was revealed by the minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, in a written response to a parliamentary question posed by the Democratic Alliance (DA).<\/p>\n
“Minister Zulu further disclosed that no legal steps have been taken to recover the grants paid to the 241public service employees who received the SRD grant for the month of May 2020 as the investigations into these payments are also still ongoing. A total amount of R84,350 was paid to public service employees who applied for the SRD grant for the month of May 2020,” the DA said.<\/p>\n
“While the DA welcomes the fact that DSD has since put systems in place to prevent public service employees from fraudulently and\/or unlawfully applying for and\/or receiving an SRD grant, and that SASSA has implemented a system to ensure that public service employees do not receive the SRD grant by matching the ID numbers of approved and new applicants for the grant against various databases such as the PERSAL and PERSOL databases, we are concerned that the investigations into the 39,672 implicated public service employees have yet to be concluded.”<\/p>\n
The political party called for decisive disciplinary and legal action t0 be taken against these public service employees. “The SRD grant is intended solely for the most vulnerable and distressed members of our society and should not be open to abuse by public service employees who are drawing a monthly salary from state coffers,” the DA said.<\/p>\n
The grant expired in January 2021, however the government said it would extend the payment system for an additional three months, to April 2021, having paid approximately 6.5 million recipients monthly since the grant opened last May.<\/p>\n
SASSA pointed out that the SRD grant is a temporary provision of assistance intended for persons in such dire material need that they are unable to meet their or their families’ most basic needs.<\/p>\n
It is paid to citizens or permanent residents, who have insufficient means and meet one or more of the following criteria:<\/p>\n