Nkosana Lekotjolo

Nkosana Lekotjolo

While the government is determined to win the battle against corruption, experts are not very optimistic because of the many flaws in the system.

University of Johannesburg lecturer Terry Sacco says the thousands of public servants who defraud the Social Development Department of millions of rands every year "steal the money because they know they can get away with it".

"We need zero tolerance when it comes to fraud and corruption," Sacco says.

"Part of the solution is to employ more social workers to help identify people who really need these social grants.

"We also need leaders of impeccable integrity."

The Department of Social Development has claimed victory, saying a total of 6693 public servants charged with fraudulently obtaining social grants had been brought to court by December 2007.

These civil servants work for various national and provincial government departments.

The special investigating unit was responsible for these investigations.

The government claims that the unit had saved the state about R7,7billion since the investigations started in 2005.