No grant payments will be cancelled without prior verification
She said that the state could save up to a billion rand a year if it rooted out the fraud prevalent at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
Delivering her budget vote address in Parliament on Thursday, Tolashe said that her department was still working on ways to convert the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to a permanent basic income grant.
SASSA's verification of eligible beneficiaries and those suspected of having alternative income has been causing upheaval countrywide.
But Minister Tolashe is appealing to those who've been requested to visit SASSA offices to undergo the review process to do so, saying it was part of modernising and transforming the agency.
"Let me be very clear. We have not stopped or suspended any grant without due process."
Tabling her department's R294 billion budget, 96% of which is allocated for social grants, Tolashe said that she would soon retable a policy proposal to Cabinet on the introduction of a permanent basic income grant.
"The additional element of this policy proposal is to link beneficiaries to employment and sustainable livelihood opportunities."
Tolashe said that by the end of the year, all SASSA offices would be fitted with biometric systems to clamp down on grant fraud.
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