TWO SASSA PENSION BENEFICIARIES WHO ARE DIRECTORS OF COMPANIES THAT RECEIVED OVER R140M FROM SAPS CONTRACTS CHARGED WITH FRAUD
The Investigating Directorate has charged two SASSA older persons' pension recipients with perjury, fraud, theft, and contravention of the Social Assistance Act for having received the older persons' indigent grant while being sole directors of companies that were awarded tenders worth allegedly millions from the SAPS.
Sarathamoney Sigamoney (66) and Salamina Khoza (68) have both been arraigned at the Pretoria North Magistrates' Court for having defrauded SASSA. Sigamoney is accused of having defrauded SASSA of more than R123 000 and Salamina Khoza for more than R152 000, respectively. She was arrested this morning, while Khoza was summoned to appear as she was previously arrested on similar charges.
On April 13 2017, Sigamoney applied to SASSA, stating that she has never worked for a period of 20 years. The application was approved, and she is alleged to have received money from SASSA. Prior to submitting her application to the Department of Social Development in Gauteng, Sigamoney submitted a similar application in KwaZulu-Natal and her application was declined. Although she is listed as the director of KJP Traders Pty and Matthew Pillay (her son), KJP is alleged to have conducted business with the state as early as 2012, preceding her application to SASSA. Furthermore, the company is estimated to have cashed in over R80 million from the SAP Furniture contract.
The second case pertains to Salamina Khoza who is alleged to have applied to SASSA on 14 September 2014, stating that she had no steady source of income and that she was surviving on R400 per month through selling perishables. On 22 September 2014, the application was approved.
At the time the accused applied for the old age grant, she was already the sole director of three companies registered on the central supplier database (CSD) of the National Treasury. The companies are Isasalethu Construction and Office Consumables Pty Ltd, Sifikile Furniture and Projects Pty Ltd, and Siyanqoba Trading and Projects Pty Ltd. According to the Police Financial Systems (POLFIN) of the South African Police Service, the three companies are recipients of various amounts of money that were paid to them by the SAPS because they had tendered with the police services.
Between 01 September 2014 and 31 August 2022, she is accused of having received R152,125 from SASSA while allegedly receiving over R60 million from her three companies. Khoza did not have any authority to transact on the accounts held by her companies. Mr Kishene Chetty was the sole signatory on the accounts. Khoza was fronting for Kishene Chetty who was the beneficial owner of the three companies.
The case against Sarathamoney Sigamoney has been postponed to 10 February 2023 and she has been granted R5000 bail. She has been notified to hand in her travel documents and to not apply for any new ones. The other case against Salamina Khoza has been postponed to 23 March 2023 for pretrial.
Statement issued by Sindisiwe Seboka, NPA Investigating Directorate National Spokesperson, 16 November 2022
