A 42-year-old administrator who works at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has been arrested after allegedly demanding a bribe.
The administrator was arrested Thursday in Mogwase by the Hawks’ Rustenburg-based Serious Corruption Investigation team.
According to the Hawks, a 63-year-old victim applied for an old age pension grant at the Sassa offices in Mogwase in December 2024.
The 63-year-old victim, however, claims that the suspect demanded R3 000 before the application was approved.
The victim told the suspect that he was short on funds and promised to pay the required sum as soon as he received his first pension payout in February 2025.
Suspect paid R2 000
According to the Hawks, the suspect demanded the money when the victim’s bank account received the first pension payout in February 2025.
“The pensioner complied and sent his daughter to go and withdraw R2 000 to pay the suspect who became agitated when the amount she demanded was not paid in full,” said Hawks spokesperson and warrant officer Amogelang Malwetse.
At the beginning of March, the victim and his daughter made additional plans to settle the balance.
However, the information reached a Hawks member, who immediately responded and filed an inquiry for a preliminary investigation.
“The information was operationalised, which led to the arrest of the suspect soon after receiving the money from the victim.
The suspect is expected to appear before the Mogwase magistrate’s court on Monday,” stated Malwatse.
Sassa officials suspended
The arrest follows the arrest of three Sassa officials at the Eastern Cape’s Idutywa local office who were suspected of fraud.
The three were taken into custody following Bandile Maqetuka, the regional executive manager for Sassa’s Eastern Cape, making an unexpected visit to the offices earlier this week.
Several unaccounted-for documents, such as birth certificates, affidavits, bank cards, identity documents, and stamped municipal letters, were found in one of the official’s drawers.
They have since been suspended.
“They did not appear in court because the prosecutor asked us to bring more information to firm up the case,” said Maqetuka.
“Our investigators are gathering more information, and we hope that the case will be reinstated as soon as we provide the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority] and the police with the relevant information.”
Maqetuka added that the province is looking into roughly 154 cases of corruption, fraud, and poor administration.
“We have suffered losses amounting to R1.9-million so far,” he said.
