Twelve senior managers of the social grant dispensing agency received a combined windfall of over R500000 in performance bonuses after chief financial officer Mpho Mofokeng unilaterally approved them. The performances of the managers had not been assessed.

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini, replying to a parliamentary question by DA social development spokesman Patricia Kopane, said an internal investigation of the circumstances of the awarding of the payments had found that they were made irregularly.

"Disciplinary action is being undertaken against the official responsible for this irregular expenditure," said Dlamini.

According to the Department of Social Development, 11 senior managers at the grant dispensing agency received between R43000 and R46000 each in performance bonuses without being evaluated.

Another senior manager was paid a bonus of R38600 in the 2007-2008 financial year. His performance had not been evaluated. The payment was found to have been irregularly authorised by Mofokeng.

The agency's spokesman, Paseka Letsatsi, said disciplinary action against Mofokeng was continuing, but he could not say whether a date had been set for a hearing.

Letsatsi said that the outcome of the disciplinary hearing against Mofokeng would help the agency determine whether it should attempt to recover money from managers who benefited from the irregular payments.

The DA's Kopane slammed the payments, saying they were further proof of lax financial controls at Social Security.

"People are being paid a lot of money without performance appraisals being done.

"If you compare the performance of employees and you check their salaries, we are not getting value for money," she said.

The agency, which pays about R97-billion in social grants to more than 15million people, received a qualified audit after it was found to be R500-million in the red.

In a damning audit, the auditor-general found that the agency was unable to account for money and assets in excess of R300-million.

The agency has also been plagued by fraudulent social grant claims. It has called in the Special Investigations Unit to root out corrupt civil servants who were illegally claiming social grants.

In the past financial year alone, 3797 fraudulent social grant cases were brought before the courts, resulting in 3345 convictions.

According to the agency's annual report, 8383 people found to have fraudulently benefited from social grants were made to sign acknowledgement of debt to the value of R51-million.

The agency was able to end payment of 28000 fraudulent grants, and payments to beneficiaries whose bank accounts had not been active for three months or more.

This saved the agency R312-million a year.

A new CEO, Virginia Petersen, was recently appointed, almost a year after the dismissal of CEO Fezile Makiwane in connection with allegations of tender irregularities amounting to R11-million.