Twenty-one Department of Social Development officials faced fraud charges in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday as part of a nationwide campaign against benefit cheats.
The officials are accused of receiving grants to which they are not entitled.
Spokesperson Kgati Sathekge said more than 160 people had been identified for arrest in the swoop against the fraud, which costs the department about R1,5-billion a year.
He said that child-benefit grants, which were introduced in 1994, are the main target of the fraudsters, who claim benefits for children when they are not entitled to do so. Other benefits are also fraudulently claimed.
A further 57 people in North West have been summonsed to appear in courts in the province on August 29, and a late-night development on Monday has postponed the planned arrested of 85 people in KwaZulu-Natal.
The director of public prosecutions is looking for more information, Sathekge said.
This campaign differs from a recent social-grant fraud amnesty in that it targets public servants, not members of the public.
In April, the department set up the National Social Security Agency to tighten controls on grants.
The opposition Democratic Alliance demanded to know why it took so long for the arrests to be made.
Spokesperson Hendrika Kruger said: ”The department will no doubt claim due process and the rights of these fraudsters need to be protected, but all concerned must not be allowed to forget that they have stolen the food out of our most desperate citizens’ mouths.”
She appealed that those arrested not be suspended on full pay ”for years and years”.
”The people we need to protect are the children, disabled and elderly, not those who don’t know how to keep their fingers to themselves,” her statement read. — Sapa