Rent-a-child scam nets R60m
2003-03-16 18:12
Johannesburg - Corrupt Mpumalanga social services officials have hatched a massive rent-a-child scam which has cost the taxpayer at least R60m a year in fraudulent child-support grants.
Several thousand of these fraudulent beneficiaries - some who claimed to have as many as four sets of twins - have been exposed by a special anti-corruption task team, Operation Buyisa (Bring Back).
Since the launch of the operation, 7 252 beneficiaries, who were claiming money for one or more children, have been cancelled.
The campaign has managed to get confessions from 292 beneficiaries who admitted to defrauding the system. They have promised to pay back the money.
Bogus beneficiaries were mainly from urban areas and included teachers, nurses and clerks, said director of social security services Rachel Mokoena.
The probe into the scam surfaced after senior officials became wary of the payment of child-support grants to women in the KaBokweni area.
Mokoeana said this week almost all the women in the area claimed to have twins, with some claiming to have more than three sets of twins.
"We decided to re-register children. We asked them to bring the children with them for the interview, together with their IDs, the child's birth certificate and clinic card.
"We also applied gentian violet liquid on the children to ensure they were not brought back.
"We told all the beneficiaries getting money at paypoints, post offices and banks a month before the start of the campaign," said Mokoena.
The shock findings conducted only in the Ehlanzeni region, which covers Nelspruit and the surrounding townships and villages, found that:
41 women claimed money for children who had been declared dead by the department of home affairs.
129 women were receiving the grant, but not staying with the children. Most of these children were staying with their grandparents.
56 women had an income higher than the qualifying income. Women who were earning between R800 and R1 000 were receiving grants.
33 women who had provided the department with false documentation also received the grant.
15 women only reported the deaths of their children after the announcement of the operation.
Nine were receiving money on behalf of non-South African children.
If calculated on the basis of each beneficiary receiving R130 (this is before the increase to R160) all these bogus beneficiaries would have cost the taxpayer R58.5m every year.
Repayments, which might take a long time, would result in the whole amount being recouped.
Six social security officials from Witbank and KwaMhlanga, who are alleged to have defrauded the department of more than R2m, have been suspended. They have been charged with corruption.
Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya confirmed this week the department was receiving similar reports, albeit unsubstantiated, from other provinces.
He has promised stern action against officials and members of the public who steal money meant for "the poorest of the poor".