According to the Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, more than 214 000 social grants were paid out to people who had died. Another 59 000 people were paid the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant after they died in the last few months.

Zulu said the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) runs its data with the population register of the Department of Home Affairs to ensure that people paid social or SRD grants are the correct beneficiaries.

However, some of the deaths were reported late.

Zulu, who was replying to a written question in Parliament from Bridget Masango of the DA, said in some cases social grants payments were made after a person had died.

“The information provided below is for the payment vouchers extracted after the date of death of the beneficiary. This information is not grant specific, but linked to a beneficiary, who may receive more than one grant. Further analysis is required to be able to specify this by grant type,” she said.

“For the period January 2020 to 31 October 2021, a total of 214 344 vouchers were extracted after the death of the beneficiary. However, this does not reflect the numbers actually paid out as in some cases, the money paid has already been recovered, or returned to Sassa by Sapo (South African Post Office).

“The total number of vouchers for the R350 social relief of distress grant extracted after the death of the beneficiary for the period under discussion is 59 089. Again, this is the total number of vouchers extracted, but the actual number paid out will only be known on receipt of the full reconciliation from Sapo,” Zulu added.