Cape Town - Five former officials of the South African Social Security Agency’s (Sassa) Gugulethu office were sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud and corruption on Wednesday.
Known as the Sassa Five Siviwe Nodada, Dideka Tosha, Thumeka Nguqe, Xolani Thoko and Phatheka Nodada were arrested in July 2012 for using computer passwords to create ghost beneficiaries. All were grant administrators entrusted with processing applications. They embezzled R70 966 from 2010 to 2012.
They used their former co-accused Thabane Maselane and Nokwaka Mteto, who were not employees of Sassa, to collect personal information from beneficiaries.
Maselane would then assist people who were not entitled to receive grants to secure them fraudulently. They (officials) would then load fraudulent applications on the Social Service Pension System.
Maselane pleaded guilty and was fined R10 000, while Mteto is still on the run.
Sassa Fraud and Compliance Management Investigator Majoro Pakkies, who is based in Johannesburg, testified that the agency suffered financial losses amounting to more than R340 million nationally from the 2012 to 2015 financial years due to corruption.
He said the corruption by the five had challenged them to improve their internal controls to prevent ghost beneficiaries from being created and to deter fraud and corruption.
“First it was a two-step process. We had a capturer and a verifier. They processed every application. But after this corruption we added biometric/fingerprinting and screening, and a quality assurer.”
Arguing for aggravation of sentence, State prosecutor Denzyl Combrink said punishment should fit the crime. “You abused your position of power and registered unauthorised grants. Your crime was perpetuated by greed and it was premeditated. Corruption threatens constitutional order.”
Passing sentence, Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg said people convicted of serious crimes should be punished accordingly.
“You are all convicted of fraud and corruption. A suspended sentence will not serve as a deterrent to these crimes. Therefore, I sentence each of you to seven years in prison,” she said.
Sassa Fraud and Compliance General Manager Renay Ogle said the sentence would serve as a deterrent to would-be fraudsters.
She added that the judgement would go into history books as it had been served on the Anti-fraud and Corruption International Day.
“We are glad the court has meted a harsh sentence.”
She said that in the Western Cape, more than R100 000 had been lost and 3 392 cases opened.
@siyaks
Cape Times
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