SA's social security agency
5 May 2006
The South African Social Security Agency was set up by the government to root out fraud and improve efficiency in the administration of the country's social grants.
The national agency, up and running since April 2005, aims to speed up delivery of social grants, cut down on corruption in the system, and ultimately lift the burden of administering grant applications and payments from the country's nine provinces.
By March 2007, the new agency will have taken over grant payments from all nine provincial social welfare departments, shouldering the responsibility of distributing over R55-billion to more than 10 million needy South Africans annually.
Spreading the social
security net - The state injects over R3-billion a month into the budgets of poor households through social grants, giving support to over 10 million South Africans. 
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The agency took over the payment of grants in Gauteng, Northern Cape and Western Cape in April, and Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya says he's satisfied with the way the new system is working so far.
Visiting social grant pay points in Mamelodi outside Pretoria on Thursday, Skweyiya noted both complaints about minor delays caused by computer slowdowns, and one major improvement over the old system: the absence of long queues.
Instead of queueing at paypoints, beneficiaries are now given specific times to collect their grants.
The idea, says Skweyiya, is to create "a unitary but flexible service delivery mechanism to ensure that we
pay the right grant amount to the right person at the right time and in a dignified manner."
The chief executive of the agency, Fezile Makiwane, says social aid is one of the government's main poverty alleviation programmes. South Africa's social grants target elderly and disabled people, poor families with children, war veterans, and households taking care of children and people in need.
Streamlining grant administration
By shifting the social assistance function to national government, and alleviating the pressure of social grant administration on provincial budgets, the government believes the agency will free up provincial departments to focus on improving their social services.
The agency will improve service delivery by employing competent frontline staff to process social grant applications at the point of delivery.
At the same time, skilled back-office staff will ensure quicker verification and approval of applications
by using advanced technology to communicate with other key government data sources.
The grant administration process will be streamlined, and the application process will involve fewer people and fewer steps.
Social security contracts with payment agencies and contractors will also be consolidated and standardised.
"At the heart of what government wants to achieve is improved service delivery to beneficiaries," says Makiwane. "The new institutional structure will be focused on the core business of grants, or benefit administration."
According to the Department of Social Development, the resultant pooling of buying power to contract for the payment of grants could result in a saving of R500-million per year, while reduction of fraud could result in an additional saving of R500-million a year.
The government has been losing an estimated R1.5-billion a year to fraud committed through social grants. Other problems have included long delays in approving
grants, long queues at pay points, and low levels of service delivery.
In 2005, the government concluded a successful amnesty campaign which saw about 30 000 ordinary South Africans owning up to receiving grants they were not entitled to - translating into about R120-million a year in savings for the state.
Reducing dependency levels
Skweyiya says South Africa has made significant progress towards alleviating poverty and enhancing social cohesion - but that more still needs to be done to develop SA's economy and reduce the level of dependency on social grants.
"One of the most significant achievements we have made is the reduction of poverty through the provision of social assistance to the most vulnerable sectors of society - the elderly, people with disabilities and, most importantly, children", Skweyiya says.
Over 6.2-million South African children currently benefit from social grants. Child support grants have now been
extended to 1.9-million children under 11 years, and an estimated 1.2-million children between 11 and 14 years will be registered for grants by March 2006. R6.4-billion has been set aside for this purpose.
"As we register these children, we will pay even more attention on ensuring that children who receive social grants attend school", Skweyiya says.
"We will be working closely with the Department of Education and the education fraternity in this regard."
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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