LIMPOPO - Two former South African Social Security Agency officials, Solani Agnes Baloyi (56) and Jacob Manamela (64) were each sentenced to an effective five years imprisonment by the Giyani Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 21 February 2023.

During January 2015, the accused who were stationed at Tzaneen SASSA offices recruited unemployed people from the area to apply for disability grant whereas they were not disabled.

The applications were successfully processed by the accused and the payments were made to unfit beneficiaries. The first payments would be shared with the officials while the other payments would be for the beneficiaries.

The authorities from SASSA received a tip off about the fraudulent activities and reported the matter to the Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation. After conducting a thorough Investigation, the accused were arrested and released on bail until they were found guilty and sentenced.

The department has suffered a loss of R600 000-00 due these fraudulent activities.

The Provincial Head of the Hawks in Limpopo Province, Major General Gopz Govender has stated that this should serve as a deterrent to other fraudsters who might commit fraud on monies that are meant to assist members of the community who are living with disabilities.

Source: South African Police Service