Welfare officials up for fraud

2003-10-30 18:18

Johannesburg - Two women employed by the Gauteng social services department were among 13 people arrested on Thursday in connection with fraud and forgery, police said.

Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said the 13 - five women and eight men - were arrested in their Soweto homes in a dawn raid as part of "Operation White Collar".

The operation was aimed at eliminating social welfare fraud.

Dlamini said the latest arrests meant that three fraud scam syndicates had now been hamstrung in Gauteng. Also, a social services internal fraud unit had identified trends which might well lead to further police action.

Other syndicates could be enjoying their final days.

Gauteng social services MEC Angie Motshega said her department was paying social grants to almost 800 000 people a month at a cost of nearly R365m.

"We suspect that at least R2.5m is being paid out to fraudsters and the fact that this is sometimes done with the co-operation of department officials is a sad breach of trust," Motshega said.

"Some of the fraud involves people drawing money after presenting disability certificates signed by a doctor. We have several doctors under scrutiny and more arrests will be made as the investigation continues."

Other people were claiming child support grants when the child for whom the grant was claimed was not living with them.

Dlamini said anyone fraudulently claiming grants was urged to cancel the grants immediately.

"Anyone wise enough to do this can simply call 011-355-7766 or 011-355-7760 during office hours. If they carry on we will definitely arrest them and it will probably be at 04:00," Dlamini said.

All those arrested in Thursday's raid appeared in court and were warned to appear again on November 4.

if found guilty they can be made to repay the amount stolen in addition to a prison sentence, Dlamini said.

- SAPA