Minister of Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has vowed to arrest grant fraudsters, saying on Monday that some mothers are using subsidies meant for their children to have their hair done.
Skweyiya, speaking at a World Population Day breakfast in Johannesburg, said in the past the government lost about R1,5-billion a year to grant fraud.
”Grants are not meant for the mother of the parent, they are meant for the person who takes care of the child,” he said.
”I have heard of some cases where a mother who drives a BMW comes to fetch a grant and then uses it to have her hair done. It is illegal to do that. That money is meant for the child. We will arrest people.”
Skweyiya said in many cases in South Africa, it is traditional for a grandmother to take care of the child of an unmarried mother.
He said in this case it is the grandmother who should get the grant.
In some cases, a mother lives in a city such as Johannesburg, while the child lives in a rural area such as Venda. The mother, he said, will have to register the child in its place of residence.
Skweyiya said almost 10-million South Africans receive social grants, with women the largest group of recipients.
A study by the government found that grants reduce inequality by a third, but the challenge is to register a full take-up rate on all grant types.
”The study indicated that 97,5% of older persons and 95,8% of children in South Africa would be free of ultra-poverty should we retain a full take-up rate,” he said.
The state pays out more than R50-billion a year in social grants to more than nine million beneficiaries.
Corruption in the provision of social grants is estimated to cost the state R1,5-billion a year. But it is hoped that the South African Social Security Agency, which has been established to oversee the administration of grants, will help to curb grant fraud.
The agency, established in April, will be fully operational in three years’ time. — Sapa