Newzroom Afrika | 27 November 2021

After President Cyril Ramaphosa introduced social assistance measures to soften the battering from COVID-19, unemployed adults aged 18 to 59 were brought into the social security net for the first time. These new grant beneficiaries were not registered with the SA Social Security Agency, so private partners such as GovChat were brought on board to digitise the process. With a new COVID-19 variant, and demand for a basic income grant increasing, companies such as GovChat are getting in on the action. A new Open Secrets investigation shows that these digital systems can be used in ways that cause harm, particularly to people in need of social assistance.

Investigations and Advocacy team at Open Secrets, Abby May, elaborates.

Tune into Newzroom Afrika, DSTV channel 405 for more details.