THE South African Social Security Agency will appoint pay point monitors to provide help desk services at all pay points in an attempt to stop officials stealing from grant beneficiaries.

This in response to Sowetan reports that social grant beneficiaries - mostly elderly people in rural areas - are often paid R100 to R200 short on their grants.

We reported on Friday that the affected beneficiaries want Sassa to intervene.

Sassa spokesperson Tshediso Mahlaku confirmed that there had been regular reports of short payment of grants over the past year.

"Our beneficiaries have over this period blamed officials from cash payment services (CPS) for the short payments," Mahlaku said.

CPS is the third party contracted by Sassa for the payment of social grants across the province of Limpopo.

Mahlaku said while the number of complaints cannot be determined, they have been received from beneficiaries in both rural and urban areas across the Limpopo region.

He said it was difficult todetermine how much has been lost to these fraudsters.