Two men are expected to appear in court on Monday after they were found in possession of 495 Sassa payment cards in Pietermaritzburg.
The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) in KwaZulu-Natal said in a statement that the pair were arrested on Saturday night in the central business district after they could not explain why they had the cards in their possession.
Sassa said the arrests came after a tip-off to police.
“A vehicle was intercepted travelling from Alex extension towards N3 and stopped on the N3 near Ashburton where the arrested suspects were nabbed in possession of the 495 Sassa payment cards which were activated.
“The modus operandi used by the syndicate is commonly known as e-wallet, where the suspects would transfer money out of the cards into the cellphone numbers linked to the sim cards,” said the statement.
Themba Matlou, Sassa's regional executive manager, said the arrest of the pair followed that of a 38-year-old police officer for a similar matter in Phoenix last week.
“This clearly proves that we remain relentless in our pursuit of a corruption-free social grant system,” he said.
“There will be no leniency shown to anyone who preys on social grants beneficiaries. We are pleased that members of the public are now taking a stand and will not tolerate fraud and corruption.”
TimesLIVE
Two men nabbed in KZN with 495 Sassa cards
Two men are expected to appear in court on Monday after they were found in possession of 495 Sassa payment cards in Pietermaritzburg.
The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) in KwaZulu-Natal said in a statement that the pair were arrested on Saturday night in the central business district after they could not explain why they had the cards in their possession.
Sassa said the arrests came after a tip-off to police.
“A vehicle was intercepted travelling from Alex extension towards N3 and stopped on the N3 near Ashburton where the arrested suspects were nabbed in possession of the 495 Sassa payment cards which were activated.
“The modus operandi used by the syndicate is commonly known as e-wallet, where the suspects would transfer money out of the cards into the cellphone numbers linked to the sim cards,” said the statement.
Themba Matlou, Sassa's regional executive manager, said the arrest of the pair followed that of a 38-year-old police officer for a similar matter in Phoenix last week.
“This clearly proves that we remain relentless in our pursuit of a corruption-free social grant system,” he said.
“There will be no leniency shown to anyone who preys on social grants beneficiaries. We are pleased that members of the public are now taking a stand and will not tolerate fraud and corruption.”
TimesLIVE