Limpopo Woman Recruits 15 People to Fake Disabilities in R300k Sassa Scam, SA Furious: “The Rot Runs Deep”

• A Limpopo woman has been sentenced to five years in jail for a scam that cost Sassa R300 000
• Conspiring with three Sassa officials, Angelina Morongwe recruited 15 people to fake disabilities to get grant payouts
• South Africans are fed up with corruption in the country and have called for stricter regulation of Sassa

POLOKWANE - A Limpopo woman involved in a scam that defrauded the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) of R300 000 has been sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Angelina Morongwe was the first to be sentenced by the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in a case that included 15 people and three Sassa officials.

The other accused will stand trial for their part in the scam in September, TimesLIVE reported.

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Limpopo woman recruits 15 community members to defraud Sassa

Morongwe acted as a middleman in a syndicate that recruited 15 people to pretend they had physical disabilities to get Sassa grant payments.

After recruiting the people, the Sassa officials would bypass the medical examinations, process the applications, and money would be paid to the beneficiaries.

The "beneficiaries" would then give the first payment to the officials, who would divvy it up with Morongwe, IOL reported.

South Africans call for tighter regulations at Sassa

Below are some comments:

Tankiso Motloung said:

"All state-owned entities are full of corruption, I am not surprised at all."

Essop Tagari claimed

"It simply means the entire system has no tracking options or verification systems."

Jamest Gilpin Tshuma exclaimed:

"The rot runs deep in the city!"

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Mpatie MaUzzie Phoka requested:

"@Sassa, please hire us to do verification so that our tax money won't go wasted but goes to the right applicants, please."

Sassa payments: Mother said her family was on the brink of starvation due to non-payment of child grant

Previously, Briefly News reported that many citizens hadn't received South African Social Security Agency's grants that they depend on to make ends meet.

Among those who weren't paid out was a 43-year-old mother who depends on the R430 child support grant to put food on the table for her 12-year-old.

SASSA claims the non-payment matter was resolved but many still cannot access funds.

Source: Briefly News