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In a report dated 30 June 2025, the Public Protector has found that former SASSA CEO, Busisiwe Memela-Khambula, was irregularly and unlawfully appointed on 29 March 2019 and received an inflated salary of R2 650 000 per annum from the former Minister of Social Development, Susan Shabangu.

The DA will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development to request that the Public Protector’s report be urgently tabled and deliberated to ensure full accountability.

The Public Protector’s report found that this salary was neither approved by Cabinet nor aligned with the directives of the then Minister of Finance, the late Tito Mboweni, and the then Minister of Public Service and Administration, Senzo Mchunu. According to the report, both had instructed former Minister Shabangu to offer Memela-Khambula a salary of R1 880 736 per annum, citing the fiscal pressures facing the country.

The Public Protector found that the former Minister blatantly ignored her Cabinet colleagues and unlawfully appointed Memela-Khambula.

To add insult to injury, Memela-Khambula’s contract was found to have been awarded in the absence of a signed Cabinet submission, which, according to the report, is either non-existent or missing.

The Public Protector also found that former Minister Shabangu’s appointment of Memela-Khambula as CEO of SASSA – and her determination of the salary – was "not compliant with the applicable legal prescripts or the procedure contemplated in section 7(2)(a) and (b) of the SASSA Act, 2004. As a result, such conduct constitutes improper conduct in terms of section 182(1)(a) of the Constitution and maladministration in terms of section 6(5)(a) of the Public Protector Act.”

Instead of correcting this irregular and unlawful appointment – and the inflated salary – former Minister Lindiwe Zulu, during her tenure as Minister of Social Development (May 2019 – May 2024), was found to have ignored the advice given by her Cabinet colleagues on 2 September 2019, which was to offer Memela-Khambula the lower salary, and if she did not accept, to revert to the shortlist of other candidates.

Moreover, despite being aware of the Public Protector’s investigation as early as 28 December 2019, former Minister Zulu was found to have failed to take any action to remedy the unlawful appointment or the inflated salary.

Instead, the Public Protector found that she recommended the renewal of Memela-Khambula’s contract, which Cabinet approved in February 2024 – without addressing or correcting the irregularities in the initial appointment.

Memela-Khambula’s contract ended in May 2025 after six years, during which she had unduly benefited from millions of SASSA’s budget – taxpayers’ money meant for the poor and vulnerable.

As the Public Protector’s investigation neared completion, the current Minister of Social Development, Nokuzola Tolashe, abruptly placed Memela-Khambula on precautionary suspension in December 2024 on full pay.

The DA calls on Minister Tolashe to take urgent action to address this blatant abuse of power and financial misconduct at the highest level within SASSA. Those responsible must be held accountable in line with these findings and ensure that money owed to SASSA, the people’s money, is returned.

It is disgraceful that the government continues to foster an elite group of millionaire managers in the public sector with ever-increasing inflated salaries, while ordinary South Africans suffer from budget cuts, failing service delivery, and skyrocketing inflation, scraping by just to survive.

It is also a damning indictment of every former Minister and Director-General of the Department of Social Development, as well as former SASSA CEOs, that after 25 years of existence, SASSA still does not have its own Human Resource Management Policy.

The development, approval, and implementation of a Human Resource Management Policy at SASSA is now a target in its MTEF Annual Performance Plan. This must be urgently prioritised by Minister Tolashe and the current SASSA CEO, Themba Matlou.

Issued by Alexandra Abrahams MP - DA Deputy Spokesperson on Social Development