Government Employees Who Apply R350 Grant Are In Trouble For Applying For R350 Grant.
As of February 2024, more than 36 000 government employees applied for R350 SASSA grants, even though they were permanently employed.
Lindiwe Zulu, the Social Development Minister, revealed that these government employees were taking advantage of the R350 grants when she was asked a question by the Democratic Alliance.
The DA Member of Parliament, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, was the one who asked Zulu about the rumours around public service employees applying for the Special Relief of Distress grant.
According to Gondwe, the DA called on SASSA and the Social Development Department to request the assistance of the Public Service and Administration Department in concluding the investigations into the government employees who applied for the grant.
In May 2024, it was revealed that 241 public service employees actually received the R350 grant payments, which they were not eligible for. Gondwe requested for investigations to be conducted into this issue.
Zulu announced that no legal or disciplinary action has been taken against these employees since investigations were still being conducted, however, Gondwe insisted that further action needed to take place.
In addition, no legal action has been taken to recover the grants paid to those government employees who received the R350 grant in May 2024 as investigations were still taking place.
The grants paid amounted to R84 350.
“While the DA welcomes the fact that DSD has since put systems in place to prevent public service employees from fraudulently and/or unlawfully applying for and/or receiving an SRD grant, and that Sassa has implemented a system to ensure that public service employees do not receive the SRD grant … we are concerned that the investigations into the 39 672 implicated public service employees have yet to be concluded,” said Gondwe.
The Special Relief of Distress grants was intended for members of society who were most vulnerable and distressed due to COVID-19, which is why the DA believes that decisive disciplinary and legal action should be taken.
