By Wendy Jasson da Costa
The 12 387 public servants who were found guilty of illegally receiving social grants will not escape punishment, while 15.5 percent interest a year will be added to the outstanding debts they are paying back.
Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said apart from being formally charged, those found guilty also faced internal disciplinary measures.
He said the SA Social Security Agency had already called on the department of public service and administration to assist with the process and premiers had been consulted on the best way to deal with the issue.
By October, 1 475 public servants had pleaded guilty to social grant fraud and were convicted and sentenced for fraudulently obtaining social grants, but their names could not be released.
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"Apart from the criminal route, public servants involved in these matters need to face disciplinary action, and it is a confidential process where the rights of an employee must be observed," said Skweyiya.
He said so far only the Western Cape had finalised its 208 disciplinary matters, in which 4 people were dismissed, 174 received final written warnings and six had died.
By October 31, 3 901 public servants had signed formal acknowledgement of debts, which were enforceable in court if they defaulted on the promised payments.
Of this 1 123 were signed by public servants in Gauteng, 1 041 in KwaZulu-Natal and 463 in Mpumalanga.
Skweyiya said a "relatively small group" had only agreed to repay small amounts over long periods despite the fact that they were earning substantial salaries.
"Should a case arise where a public servant refuses to pay an indebted amount, the matter will be referred to the state attorney for legal action against such a debtor," said Skweyiya.
He said a special investigating unit had already identified a list of cases where it was establishing financial profiles of those involved to ensure that proper repayments were made according to what each debtor could afford.
Skweyiya said it was difficult to indicate the ranks of the officials involved, but most of them were junior employees within the public service.
He said the investigating unit had matched PERSAL information with the information on the social pensions database and discovered that public servants who were receiving social grants and their salaries came in above the means test.
The lowest salary range was R18 000 and the highest salary range was R167 217, while the amounts stolen ranged from R680 to R72 038.
Recently the department announced that 400 000 members of the public were suspected of illegally pocketing social grants and were under investigation.
It said that full-time syndicates which defrauded the social grant system.
Also, parents who registered their own children as foster children to access grants were also under scrutiny.
- This article was originally published on page 4 of Pretoria News on December 13, 2006
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