The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is investigating 400 000 people who might be fraudulently receiving social grants and pensions from the government, head Willie Hofmeyr said on Thursday.
He said the first phase of the probe, which started last year, focused on government employees. The unit will now start to look at private individuals.
”We are dealing here not with thousands or tens of thousands of investigations to be done, but with hundreds of thousands … people have to realise that this investigation is very big,” Hofmeyr said.
In 2007 the Department of Social Welfare will fund the cost of the investigation, contributing R60-million for 200 extra SIU investigators.
The department estimated that the social welfare system was losing R1,5-billion in fraud each year.
Hofmeyr said since the start of the investigation 110 000 irregular grants were already cancelled, saving R400-million. By the end of this year, the SIU aimed to cancel another 125 000 grants worth R500-million.
Hofmeyr said of 44 000 government employees receiving grants, 21 588 were found to have been fraudulent.
”They have been referred to their departments for disciplinary action. Over 15 000 have had their grants cancelled already and nearly 14 000 of those are being considered for prosecution,” he said.
He said the scale of the action was ”huge”. The unit has already had discussions with the Department of Public Service and Administration, which was finding ways of dealing with the 21 588 disciplinary actions.
”The SIU has also tried to recover money from those who are able to repay. However, this is extremely cumbersome as court litigation is required to compel a debtor to repay, and they cannot be compelled to repay more than they afford,” Hofmeyr said.
On Wednesday, the Democratic Alliance said if any public servant couldn’t pay the amount they stole immediately, market-related interest should be charged on the amount.
”What kind of penalty are public servants having to pay if they can pay off the exact amount they stole at terms that suit them? This amounts to nothing more than a soft loan. They must realise they stole from public money, and they must feel the consequences of what they have done,” DA spokesperson on social development Mike Waters said.
A ”relatively small group has agreed to repay substantially less than what they should be able to afford. In these cases it is unacceptable that they repay small amounts over long periods, despite the fact that they earn substantial salaries.
”Thus the SIU has already identified a list of cases where it intends to take legal action to ensure proper repayments are made,” Hofmeyr said.
”The joint investigation by the SIU and the department is on an unprecedented scale in South Africa. About 200 staff will work full time for several years investigating hundreds of thousands of potential cases and taking thousands of cases to court for criminal prosecution,” he added. — Sapa