Pretoria - The Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has sentenced 45-year-old Angelina Morongwe to five years’ imprisonment for defrauding the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) through a disability grant scam.
Captain Matimba Maluleke, spokesperson for the Hawks in Limpopo said between April 2018 and December 2020, Morongwe who was merely a community member, conspired with three Tzaneen-based Sassa officials to recruit people from the local communities to apply for disability grant.
Maluleke said the people who were recruited to receive the disability grant were not disabled.
“The Sassa forensic investigators discovered the criminal activities of the syndicate group, subsequently a case of fraud was opened and referred to the Hawks’ serious corruption investigation unit for further probe,” said Maluleke.
During the investigation, Maluleke said it was discovered that after recruiting the community members, Sassa officials would successfully process the applications and the money would be paid to the “beneficiaries”.
“Furthermore, the beneficiaries would give the first payments to the officials who would then share it with the accused. The department has suffered a loss of R300 000 due to these fraudulent activities,” said Maluleke.
“The accused were arrested around Tzaneen in February 2021 during a take-down operation. Morongwe was out on bail until she pleaded guilty on 15 counts of fraud and sentenced by the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court (last week).”
Other accused on the same case are scheduled to stand trial in September.
Last month, police in Makhado arrested a 54-year-old woman, who has been on the run since 2017, when she was wanted for several cases of fraud and theft by false pretences.
“This after she allegedly defrauded a lot of unsuspecting job seekers and persons aspiring to acquire nursing qualifications,” Limpopo SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, said at the time.
The woman allegedly ran bogus nursing colleges, and fraudulently registered unsuspecting students under the pretext that they were to acquire diplomas in nursing.
“The victims were also assured of employment across the province upon completion of their studies. The suspect’s fraudulent dealings were unmasked when it was eventually discovered that the colleges were not authentic,” Mojapelo said.
“The students immediately opened cases of fraud and theft under false pretences against the woman in Polokwane, Morebeng, Thohoyandou, Waterval and other places in Gauteng province.”
Police said after many cases were opened, the woman evaded arrest and had been on the run since 2017 after she left South Africa and fled to Nigeria.
“The breakthrough happened on Saturday 10 March 2023, when detectives from Makhado received information about the wanted suspect returning to South Africa from Nigeria, and that she would be arriving at OR Tambo International Airport at midday,” Mojapelo said.
The detectives pounced on the woman when she arrived at the busy airport in Kempton Park, Gauteng.
IOL