The grants were intended to provide much-needed relief to unemployed and poverty affected vulnerable groups in society and were not to be accessible to employed individuals.
JOHANNESBURG – The City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) Group Forensics and Investigation Services (GFIS) has discovered that over 1,500 employees of the metro fraudulently received the special COVID-19 social relief and other grants.
These included the social, child, military veterans, and social pension grants.
The grants were intended to provide much-needed relief to unemployed and poverty affected vulnerable groups in society and were not to be accessible to employed individuals.
The GFIS found that 419 workers unduly benefitted from the R350 special COVID-19 social relief, while 1,129 employees were fraudulently benefitting from the other grants.
Joburg Mayor Geoffrey Makhubo said he had instructed the city’s labour relations officials to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the culprits who have stolen from the state.
“We have directed labour relations in the city to initiate disciplinary proceedings against those affected and have advised GFIS to share the outcome of the investigations with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) for further action which may include criminal prosecution,” Makhubo said in a statement.
