Editor-at-large Everson Luhanga exposes a scheme where fraudsters create fake children to bleed Sassa for years — only to “kill” them off for funeral policy payouts.
Watch the video above to uncover how fraudsters create fake children to claim SASSA grants — and later “kill” them for funeral policy payouts.
From birth to death, there is a person who was never born. Until the person’s death, the syndicate makes a fortune out of Sassa and funeral policy insurance companies.
First, they register the birth of a child who was never born at the Department of Home Affairs. The baby does not have to be taken to the department’s offices to register the birth, as long as they can prove that they gave birth. How this is achieved is still not clear. The child is registered and given a birth certificate.
In this case as well, women are used to fake the births of children.
That is all the fraudsters need to register their fake children with Sassa for child grant benefits.
In February this year, six women were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment each, wholly suspended for five years on condition that they are not found guilty of fraudulent activities during the period of suspension.
The women were sentenced in the Nelspruit Serious Commercial Crime Court in Mpumalanga on 27 February 2025.
The convicts, Nonhlanhla Madalane, 36, Tswarelo Masuku, 32, Nelile Shiba, 29, and Prudence Nkosi, 31, allegedly colluded with unknown health workers and received fraudulent proof of children’s births.
Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi said at the time that the women then registered the ghost children with the Department of Home Affairs and acquired birth certificates. “They all used the birth certificates to access child support grants from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).”
“The investigation revealed that the fraudulent activities dated back from 2012 until they were reported in 2023.”
The six women were arrested and released on bail in May 2023. They made several court appearances until they were sentenced in February 2025.
He said they were also ordered to pay back the money lost by Sassa in instalments.
Scrolla.Africa spoke to women who was once used to registering a child who was never born with Sassa.
The woman, who could not be named for fear of her masters, said she was promised money to fake a birth and register a child that was not there.
“After registering the baby, the fake mother and her fraudster kingpin started receiving child grants. For 12 years, I used to claim the money,” she said.
“The trouble started when officials asked me to bring the child for fingerprints. I couldn’t because there was no child in the first place,” she said.
She said she told her masters what Sassa was asking for, and he put the non-existent child on a funeral policy for three years and the baby was declared dead. He reported the child to have been killed in a car accident during the festive season in 2019.
Scrolla.Africa has learned through intensive investigations that many of the non-existent children receive child welfare grants until they are no longer eligible for the money, usually at age 18.
But for the 18 years the child was in existence, they never attended any school and never visited the offices of the various departments. There is no history of the child anywhere except for their birth and death certificates.
After the children reach the age where they are no longer eligible for the Sassa grant, fraudsters who have been paying premiums for them “kill” them because they are no longer benefiting from that child. In many cases, such children ‘die’ in horrific car crashes or shack or house fires.
The money is then claimed with ease.
Scrolla.Africa is exposing South Africa’s deadly life insurance fraud industry in this eight-part series, inspired by Everson Luhanga’s explosive investigation into serial killer cop Rosemary Ndlovu. Missed it? Go read the full series now.
In part one, we reported that in South Africa, fraudsters easily create fake funeral policies, recruit corrupt officials, and even commit murder to claim payouts—all exploiting an industry with virtually no security checks
In part two, we reported on insurance fraud in South Africa. Everson Luhanga reported on the murder of Dumisile Khumalo, a young mother from Alexandra, in a chilling insurance scam.
In part three, we report on a wife’s chilling plot to murder her husband for life insurance money.
In part four, we exposed the case of Amos Mbongiseni Zulu — a pensioner declared dead by fraudsters who used his identity to cash in on a funeral policy, leaving him to live as a “dead man” in the eyes of the state.
In part five, we uncovered the black market for corpses — where fraudsters rent the dead, hire fake mourners, and exploit the nameless to cash in on funeral policies.
In part six, we met the ex-cops turned private investigators who are hunting down life insurance syndicates. With their knowledge of the system and years of frontline experience, they’re exposing how corruption, weak regulation, and corporate greed fuel South Africa’s deadly death industry.
