By Gabi Khumalo
Pretoria – As the Department of Social Development intensifies its efforts to curb grant-related corruption, convicted fraudster Sandy Goeieman has a strong warning for other would-be fraudsters.
“The only person who pays is you,” Goeieman, aged 38, told delegates at the 1st Annual South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Anti-Corruption Conference in Pretoria.
The conference, held under the theme ‘Closing the fraud and corruption gap in the social grants administration process’, was attended by over 600 delegates from SASSA’s provincial offices on Monday.
Goeieman’s career started in 1999 as a contract worker at the Department of Social Development. In 2004, he got a permanent job at SASSA, which enabled him to take care of his family.
However, things took a bad turn in 2010. Goeieman saw one of his colleagues counting a big sum of money in the office kitchen.
“I asked him where he got the money in the middle of the month, he told me to meet him after work. During our meeting, he told me that they were busy capturing fraudulent applications on the system,” Goeieman said, trying to fight back tears.
His colleague explained the whole process to him. He told him that per ID number, one would get R1 000 for capturing and verifying an application.
Goeieman was impressed and didn’t think twice. After two days, he started working on the scheme and was making money. He said he even got R10 000 from one person, who wanted his assistance.
However, the joy didn’t last long as the long arm of the law was starting to catch up to him.
“In February 2011, one of my colleagues told me that he heard the management saying that I was under investigation. I said, ‘It’s ok. I’ve got nothing to hide’.”
Realising that the net was closing in on him, in the first week of March, Goeieman absconded from work and went to Bloemfontein. He stayed there until the police caught up with him.
He was arrested in October, along with other SASSA employees who were also suspected of fraud and corruption.
They were all released on R15 000 bail. After a number of court hearings, he and the other employees were sentenced in July this year.
Goeieman didn’t want to go into the details of his jail term.
“Some people go to bed on an empty stomach because of our greed. We were busy fighting with government, which is trying to feed the needy families...
“My family depended on me and since my arrest, they have no income. Instead, they are now visiting me in jail and have to bring something for me,” Goeieman said in tears.
Putting an end to fraud
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini - who was also at the conference - said it was deeply disturbing that all the fraud and corruption they have uncovered was perpetuated by the people entrusted with the responsibility to serve.
“Between 1 April 2012 and now, a total of 241 SASSA employees have been suspended, dismissed or convicted for fraud related matters.
“During the 2013 financial year alone, a total of 1 845 cases have been captured on the Fraud Case Management System of SASSA,” said Dlamini.
She noted that although investigations of this nature may sometimes drag on, the department had moved with haste to finalise 841 of these cases.
The monetary value of the finalised cases is R4 525 015, of which R203 050 has been recovered. – SAnews.gov.za
