Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - September 26, 2004
Xolisa Vapi
Official statistics indicate that the number of people receiving such grants jumped from just over 600,000 to about 1.3 million in just four years - at an average cost of R10-billion a year.
About 8.5 million people are on the government's social grant system. Dubbed the "review of the causes of rapid expansion of disability grants", the probe by the Presidency - together with the Social Development and Health departments - is looking into "leakage points" in the system.
These include fraud, problems in the assessment of people eligible for disability pay and possible abuse of the definition of disability, which has seen some people receiving grants on the basis of their HIV/Aids status.
The probe will also review the definition of disability, which refers to people who cannot enter the labour market.
Social Development Director-General Vusi Madonsela said only if an HIV-positive person was "debilitated to the extent that you are unable to work" could he or she qualify for a disability grant.
Madonsela said that the biggest driver behind the exponential increase seemed to be "some doctors".
"There have been instances where . . . doctors . . . are issuing bogus medical certificates to people who do not deserve them.
"It has come to light that the prime target is syndicate crime, and this may include [government] officials," Madonsela said.
Social Development Deputy Director-General Fezile Makiwane, who is in charge of social security, said that some doctors had been arrested in the Eastern Cape.
Makiwane said that prior to 2000, the government used doctors to assess whether people qualified for disability grants.
But in 2002 assessment panels were introduced so that people who lived in areas where there were no doctors could also access social grants.
"After we embarked on a campaign to register people, we observed that the number of people registered far outstripped that which we expected.
"What we are looking at now is whether we are getting the correct number of people into the system following our campaign," Makiwane said.
"Is this a reflection of the demand for social grants, and what is driving that demand?
"Are we picking up the consequences of health conditions or are the rules not being applied properly?
"We are looking at all these things," he said, adding that it would be fine if the current figures were genuine, but they had to be verified.
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