The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting an urgent Presidential Proclamation for the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to investigate fraud at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
This is after SASSA revealed that an independent investigation has substantiated allegations of widescale fraud within the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) R370 grant system.
STUDENTS DISCOVER MASSIVE FRAUD IN SASSA SRD GRANT SYSTEM
In October, GroundUp reported that two first-year computer science students at Stellenbosch University, Joel Cedras and Veer Gosai, had been checking for ‘vulnerabilities’ in government portals like SASSA SRD.
Using perfectly ‘legal methods’, the students said they were able to check more than 300 000 ID numbers of people born between February 2005 to May 2006.
Their findings revealed that there’s a 90% application rate for SASSA SRD grants within the sample group. This is disproportionately high and unlikely to have occurred naturally, compared to the average application rate of 52% of other age groups.
Cedras and Gosai said they believe only a full reboot will resolve the systemic SASSA security issues.
“The entire SASSA SRD system needs to be re-envisioned. We recommend that SASSA reverify every single grant application. But also that it requests additional details to verify accounts,” the students said.
DA WANTS SIU TO PROBE THE FRAUD
Initially, SASSA refuted claims that their systems were vulnerable to fraud and appointed Masegare & Associates, an external service provider to verify the student’s findings.
Last week, SASSA confirmed that indeed its IT systems are vulnerable to fraud.
SASSA CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula said that due to the urgent need for the SRD grant, the system was implemented quickly and that this has created challenges in ensuring it was done properly, the Daily Maverick reported.
The publication also reported that SASSA admitted that only one of the five external service providers specialising in auditing and cybersecurity who had been invited to submit proposals to complete the investigation responded.
Masegare & Associates was appointed on 11 November and could not complete the investigation due to time constraints and huge amounts of data that needed to be processed.
Following the confirmation, the DA said the vulnerability assessment, and independent investigation, conducted by an external service provider, Masegare & Associates Incorporated, detailed multiple vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the SRD grant system which substantiate the findings of the two Stellenbosch University Students who presented to the Portfolio Committee on 23 October 2024.
DA spokesperson on Social Development Alexander Abrahams said the fundamental design flaw of the SRD system is that it lacks identity verification.
Abrahams said the system was not designed to verify that the person using the system is actually the owner of the ID number used. There is “OTP verification,” but there is no way of knowing that the cellphone number used belongs to the same person as the ID number.
“There is biometric verification, which is used only in “cases of suspected fraud,” but the report does not explain how the fraud is detected.
“While this internal investigation focused on the SRD grant system, it does not exclude the likelihood of other vulnerabilities in statutory grants such as Child Support Grants, Disability grants, Foster Care and Old Age grants, and Care Dependency grants,” Abrahams said.
Abrahams said an independent SIU investigation will bring transparency, restore public confidence, and mend the reputation of the social assistance framework, which is at the very heart of the social contract and brings dignity to millions of South Africans.
DO YOU SUPPORT THE CALL FOR SIU TO PROBE SASSA?
Let us know by clicking on the comment tab below this article or by emailing info@thesouthafrican.com or sending a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. You can also follow @TheSAnews on X and The South African on Facebook for the latest news.
