Cape Times reports that according to Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) Acting Minister Thulas Nxesi, his department is not in a position to put measures in place to prevent public servants from applying for and receiving any grants that they are not entitled to.

Nxesi was responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Mimmy Gondwe, who asked about interventions the department has put in place to prevent public servants from unlawfully applying for and receiving any social grants. In his written response, Nxesi said the DPSA did not have a mandate over the management of any grants. He pointed out that the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) and other grant-providing government institutions managed grants through the use of systems that ran independently from that of the DPSA. “The DPSA, therefore, has no mandate to interfere in the operations of any grant-providing government institutions and cannot put measures in place to prevent public servants from applying for and receiving any grants that they are not entitled to,” the minister advised. However, Nxesi added that after discovering that there were public servants who were applying for and receiving grants, the DPSA had offered assistance to Sassa to identify applicants who were public service employees by comparing the applicants against the Personnel Salary System (Persal). Nxesi also said the DPSA, through its Technical Assistance Unit, had compiled a list of public servants who were suspected to have applied and received grants for investigation through the Fusion Centre.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mayibongwe Maqhina at Cape Times

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