E1.3 million paid by Govt to deceased beneficiaries

By Delisa Magagula

Millions of Emalangeni continue to leak from government coffers through unlawful payments made to deceased beneficiaries and former employees, exposing serious gaps in financial oversight and accountability.

A recent compliance audit for the quarter ending March 31, 2025, revealed that more than E1.3 million in elderly grants was disbursed to people who had long passed away.

The audit, compiled by the Auditor General (AG), further pointed to weak monitoring systems, negligence, and ineffective recovery measures as key factors fuelling the losses.

The payments were processed by the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office between 2020 and 2023.

The breakdown provided by the AG shows:

465 deceased individuals were each paid E1, 500, amounting to E697, 500.
222 deceased individuals received E1, 500 each, totalling E333, 000.
162 deceased individuals were each overpaid E500, totalling E81, 000.
79 deceased individuals were each overpaid E1, 000, totalling E79, 000.
31 deceased individuals received E500 each, totalling E15, 500.

The cumulative unlawful payments amounted to E1.36 million. The AG noted that the losses occurred because the DPM’s Office failed to establish a reliable verification system to immediately stop payments once a beneficiary had died.

Family members or proxies allegedly continued collecting the grants.

“This situation has subjected the government to serious financial losses, as non-entitled persons unduly benefitted from the grant payments,” the AG stated.

The DPM’s Office responded that it was working with chiefdoms and the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide records of all deaths among the elderly and disabled.

The plan included issuing exercise books to chiefdoms to capture every death.

However, the AG dismissed this explanation as insufficient, warning that the response does not address how the total unlawfully paid amount of E1, 368,000 will be recovered.