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Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke
- Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke has revealed that some directors of companies doing business with the government also received social subsidies from the state.
- At a news conference on Wednesday, Maluleke said 1,513 social grant recipients were singled out because they were company directors.
- The South African Social Security Agency is investigating the matter.
In addition to winning lucrative government contracts, some company directors have also received social grants aimed at the poorest of the poor, revealed Auditor General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke at a press conference in Pretoria.
Research by the GA showed that 1,513 recipients of welfare grants were directors of companies that had contracts with the government.
By the end of August, more than 60,000 social grant recipients were potentially receiving income from other government sources.
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At Wednesday’s briefing, Maluleke said the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) outdated systems, limited databases, and inadequate verification controls led to a situation where people who were not in distress received the social relief grant, “while they were in danger they were sometimes unfairly rejected.”
“Although Sassa had embarked on a project to improve beneficiary validation, this has yet to bear fruit and the auditors continued to identify beneficiaries who are potentially receiving income from other sources as well. These sources include government pensions, social grants, payments of the FIU, national students financial aid plan scholarships and benefits from other Covid-19 aid funds, “he said.
The Attorney General’s office had identified, at the end of August, 67,770 beneficiaries who were potentially receiving income from these sources.
“The auditors also reported 1,513 beneficiaries who are directors of companies that have government contracts for the investigation. According to Sassa, all the designated beneficiaries are being investigated and an appropriate debt recovery process is being planned,” he said.
Maluleke also said that they raised the issue and asked Sassa and the different components of the Fusion Center to investigate it further.
She added:
We have submitted these findings and how we got to them to the Fusion Center. The reason we raise the flag is not to say that none of those directors should have made the profit. It may well be that they are not benefiting [from] these contracts, which are only a director of this company. Details indicate that there was no inappropriate benefit, but there may well be an inappropriate benefit.
“We are not sure, we are only raising the alarm by saying that you (Sassa) need to see this. It seems strange … it is unusual that a director of a company that is active in a commercial endeavor should benefit from that R350 grant. He needs certain investigation and recovery if that should happen. “
Maluleke also referred to the acquisition and importation of an unregistered medical drug from Cuba.
“What we found were invoices worth R260 million, invoices and proof of goods that would have arrived before August 17. At some point until August, [there were invoices for] R230 million, but [only] 34.86 million rand [was paid]. We will follow up on this when we complete our year-end audit, “he said.
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“The Department [of Defence] They themselves are conducting an investigation that will give us some clarity on what the impact of this transaction was and if there are any irregularities associated with it. What we have understood is that the hiring process did not go as smoothly as it should. In response, the department is investigating, “Maluleke said.
He said that several deficiencies in drug planning, procurement, transportation, storage and registration were also identified.
She said:
Approximately 40% of the vials were exposed to variations in temperature that could have compromised the integrity of the drug, which can result in these drugs being unusable and wasting money spent. The auditors also noted inadequate planning for the procurement of medical equipment and PPE (personal protective equipment).
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