Three officials of the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) were arrested for corruption in Piet Retief on Thursday, Mpumalanga police said.

Police spokesperson Selvy Mohlala said they gave unactivated, fraudulent grant payment cards to a woman who posed as an official and visited beneficiaries’ homes on the pretext of verifying them as beneficiaries.

“In the process, she will ask for their Sassa cards and the pin code. She then exchanges the cards and gives the beneficiary the card that is not activated,” he said.

Mohlala said a woman, Thembeni Nene, 48, was arrested in Piet Retief on 6 September after allegedly trying to swap cards at an ATM.

She appeared in the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court on Monday when the case was postponed to 1 October for further investigation.

Mohlala said grant payment cards and birth certificates had been seized from the three officials’ offices.

They would appear in the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

– SAPA