When Nomsa Ngcete applied for her old age grant she never thought her first payment would fall into the hands of fraudsters.
When Nomsa Ngcete applied for her old age grant she never thought her first payment would fall into the hands of fraudsters.
The elderly Hlalani resident was deeply shocked when she tried to withdraw her grant payment and found nothing. It then dawned on her that she might have been scammed by a fraudulent official from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).
Ngcete said that during the application process she was asked which bank she would prefer to receive the grant from. Ngcete replied that she had an existing Absa Bank account through which she already receives two child support grants.
"The woman that was helping me said that there is a Capitec Bank account number appearing in the system. I told her no, I already have a bank account number. She then gave me a document that I should present at the bank when I go to withdraw my money," said Ngcete.
Ngcete's children pointed out that the document – which confirmed she would receive a first payable amount of R2 578 – stated Capitec Bank as her paypoint. They thought nothing of it and assumed that the money would be available in the Capitec account.
On collection day at Capitec, she was requested to pay R20 to open a new account in order to access her grant. She did so and was told that there was no money in the account. Ngcete was referred to Sassa, where an official checked her grant payment and informed her it had been transferred into another Capitec account.
Since then, Ngcete has then been going back and forth between Sassa and Capitec trying to track down her money. "When I have just received my old age grant, this happens. I am tired of going up and down trying to find out what happened to my grant."
Ngcete added: "My child support grant also did not come out this month. These people want to make money off my children." She said that she has no other stable income and this would make life difficult to take care of her grandchildren. She added that she keeps on forgetting to take her medication for high blood pressure because of all the stress she is under.
Sumarie Brand from the Capitec Head office said that Ngcete is not the account holder of the Capitec account number which the Sassa grant was paid into and that the account belongs to someone who lives in the Hlalani area.
Brand said there were two pension payouts of R2578.06 and R500 paid on Monday 4 October into the account, which have now been withdrawn. "Capitec Bank does not supply the account details to Sassa for grants to be paid into and therefore we would not know as to how Sassa got the above mentioned account details for Mrs Ngcete, into which her grant needs to be paid," she said.
Brand added that Ngcete opened her account on Wednesday 6 October, two days after her grant was paid into another Capitec account and then withdrawn. "There is an indication that the two account holders might know each other since they both reside near each other in Hlalani," she said.
Luzuko Qina, the Provincial Sassa Senior Manager of Communications and Marketing, confirmed that the old age grant application was received and approved. Qina said that the Fraud and Compliance Unit have been advised of a possible fraud case relating to this matter and are currently investigating the case. After this process has been followed, disciplinary steps will be taken against the implicated officials.
"The beneficiary will get back pay in December, but normal payment will be made in November, and a Social Relief of Distress will be provided," Qina said. He added that Sassa regrets the incident and urges members of the public to continue uprooting any form of corruption, and to make use of their toll free number: 0800 60 10 11.
