South Africa's social security payments remain a cesspool of irregularities as the beleaguered entity paid R140-million to dead beneficiaries.

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu told Parliament that 75 000 deceased beneficiaries received grant payments over the last three financial years.

Zulu revealed details of the staggering amounts in response to a written parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance's Jacques Smalle.

In her response, Zulu admitted to the mounting problems facing the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

"Sassa works closely with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) on deceased data validation and conducts monthly checks to confirm the life status of beneficiaries before a payment is generated. Payment is effected to beneficiaries who are confirmed to be alive, as per validation outcomes.

"Yes, there are instances where deceased social grant recipients have been wrongly paid. This happens when a grant beneficiary dies after proof of life is confirmed by DHA and when the payment run is released to the beneficiary's bank account," Zulu said.

During the 2021/2022 financial year, Sassa paid grants to 32 920 deceased beneficiaries. The following year, 26 512 dead beneficiaries were paid.

In the 2023/24 financial year, Sassa paid 15 204 deceased beneficiaries.

Regarding amounts paid to the deceased, Sassa paid a whopping R59-million in the 2020/2021 financial year.

In 2022/2023, another R50-million was paid - and, in 2023/2024, Sassa paid R31-million to dead beneficiaries.

"To prevent the withdrawal of social grant monies, Sassa freezes the accounts of the deceased beneficiaries through Post Bank and follows up with a letter to the next of kin to return the money to Sassa. Where a withdrawal has already taken place, a Sassa debt recovery process is followed," Zulu said.

South Africa has close to 19-million citizens who survive on permanent government social grants - and it costs the taxpayer more than R200-billion per year.

The number of social grants increased from 18 677 339 at the end of March 2022 to 18 829 716 at the end of March 2023.

Additionally, an average of 8.5-million beneficiaries receive the R350 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress grant, incurring an expenditure for the 2022/2023 financial year of R30.2-billion.

In the past two years, Sassa lost more than R50-million due to fraud and corruption committed by its own senior officials.

The agency detected and investigated 701 suspected cases of fraud and 40 Sassa officials were implicated.

The potential losses amounted to R50 515 541.34. 

The Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of officials being disciplined, respectively recording 19 and 15 officials caught for wrongdoing.

Limpopo and the Western Cape each had 10 officials charged, while Mpumalanga had 17.