KEY POINTS
- The criminal act involved four women who illegally received Sassa grants through fabricated children claims from 2012 until 2023.
- The court handed down five-year prison sentences to these women which were suspended for five years yet they must return all stolen money.
- Later analysis of fraud began after a whistleblower investigation exposed the fraudulent activities.
Four South African women received punishment from courts due to their actions of defrauding Sassa by obtaining child grants for non-existent children.
The Nelspruit Serious Commercial Crime Court sentenced the women to five years in prison that they could avoid serving under certain conditions. Nonetheless they will need to repay the stolen amounts.
Four women committed identity fraud by working together with two health workers to receive fraudulent birth certificates according to Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi.
These documents served to register nonexistent children in Home Affairs before the convicts began collecting illegitimate child support grants from 2012 until 2023.
The Nelspruit Serious Commercial Crime Unit of the Hawks’ Public Service Commission received information from a whistleblower which launched their subsequent investigation. After May 2023 arrests the women received bail until their court sentencing.
The court issued an order for complete reimbursement of the stolen funds
The court system required the women to make regular payments toward the recovered stolen money.
– Nonhlanhla Madalane must repay R20,330.
– Tswarelo Masuku must repay R20,238.
Nelile Shiba and Prudence Nkosi should pay back R10,344 separately.
The investigation team received praise from Mpumalanga Hawks Provincial Head Major General Nico Gerber who acknowledged that state grants exist for helping impoverished people but not fraudsters.
Crime does not pay said the official while he stressed the importance of punishing wrongdoers completely.
