The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) has confirmed that R31m in social grants were paid to deceased beneficiaries during the 2023/24 financial year, part of 74,938 transactions processed after death over the past three years.
The figures were presented to parliament’s portfolio committee on social development, as part of the agency’s audit action plan in response to the auditor-general’s findings.
While the irregular payments had been disclosed in a written parliamentary reply in January 2024, the briefing marked the first formal oversight engagement on the matter, shifting the issue from ministerial disclosure to institutional accountability.
In its earlier response, the department attributed the problem to delays in life status updates from its counterparts in home affairs. At the time, remedial efforts were described in general terms, including account freezing and debt recovery.
The September 2025 briefing provided procedural depth, with Sassa outlining specific reforms now under way: biometric access controls to its Social Pension Programme system, a bulk recall mechanism piloted with BankservAfrica, and internal audit tools for beneficiary file validation.
A new payment solution is in testing, with completion expected by September 30.
The committee questioned whether these reforms were sufficient to address the systemic vulnerabilities exposed by the audit. Members noted that reliance on home affairs for life status verification remained a structural risk and that biometric safeguards, while necessary, may not fully resolve the interdepartmental co-ordination failures that enabled the irregular payments.
Criminal investigations were under way in the Eastern Cape, where 486 grants were paid without supporting documentation. The matter was being handled by the SA Police Service and the Hawks.
Sassa reported that 98% of its audit findings for 2023/24 have been resolved, with four still in progress.
The committee welcomed the progress but flagged ongoing risks in fraud control, consequence management and system integrity.
The committee’s deliberations occurred against the backdrop of a broader governance crisis involving ghost employees across the public sector.
Recent audits have revealed millions in salaries paid to fictitious or unverified government workers. In June, the department of public service & administration confirmed that ghost workers are present across all three spheres of government, including national departments, municipalities and state-owned entities.
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