Police found that some people accused in the R260-million Sassa fraud case own expensive things they shouldn’t be able to afford.
The 11 suspects went to court in Lenasia this week and will return on June 10 for their bail hearing.
One of the suspects Jaden Kenny owns a big house worth R2.2 million in a rich area of Johannesburg.
She works at Sassa as a senior grant administrator and makes R27 000 per month but also has cars worth R1.2 million.
Police officer Lindokuhle Monama shared these details in court. Our team went to look at Kenny’s house.
It has tall walls with electric fencing a swimming pool and space for many cars. We saw a white Renault parked there & some mail by the gate.
Monama says Kenny’s stuff is worth way more than she should be able to buy with her yearly salary of R324 000.
Her cars cost R420 000 and no one knows where she got the money for all these things. The police think this shows she might be involved in the fraud case. They are using this information to try to stop her from getting bail.
Secretive Luxury Homes Marked ‘Confidential’ by Investigators
We went to check out Siphesihle Dlamini’s house in Soweto.
The house has high walls a sliding gate and a covered parking spot. The place was empty when we looked.
Dlamini told the court she runs a consulting & transport business making R30 000 monthly besides her Sassa job.
But Monama proved this was false as no such business exists under her name. She only owns a house bought for R340 000 in May 2024 and a car worth about R150 000.
The neighbors wanted to stay unnamed because they were scared.
They said the Dlamini family keeps to themselves. A teacher lives there with her two kids including Dlamini. The family bought a VW Polo in 2024 and the son got a Hyundai i10 in 2025. One neighbor said they often have parties. “We see lots of cars outside their house with music playing & they make barbecues with their friends” the neighbor told us.
Shoprite Dlamini Junction Tip-off Sparks Major Probe
Police arrested 11 people who were part of a group stealing from Sassa between August 2024 & March 2025.
The case started when staff at Shoprite Dlamini Junction noticed two people acting strange. Shumani Khwerana and Khensani Maluleke were taking out R6 000 from different cash registers.
When the police showed up they asked questions. Khwerana told them her friend Tshilidzi Ramaphosa gave her the numbers to get the money.
The police found Ramaphosa in the parking lot. He had a Sassa laptop & other equipment with him. He did not tell the truth about owning a Volkswagen Polo when he asked to be let out on bail.
Later Ramaphosa told police he got the numbers from Abenezer Tilahyn who is from Ethiopia. Tilahyn is a car mechanic who makes R10 000 per car. He takes care of his home bills and owns some property worth R200 000.
TymeBank Cards Used to Channel Funds via Fake Profiles
The police saw Tilahyn show up in a silver Mercedes. When they checked him they found a .357 Magnum gun with bullets but he had no license for it.
They also found lots of money and many bank cards in his car. He had R50 000 plus over 200 cards from different banks like Sassa TymeBank FNB & Wizzit.
Tilahyn said he could make these cards because he owned a business with a computer.
The police worked with the banks and found out some cards were fake. They discovered that other people helped make fake accounts at the Sassa office in Johannesburg.
This led the police to arrest more people. They caught Siphesihle Dlamini Phiwe Mkhuzangwe and Paul Bowes at the Sassa office. Two others Paul Miyambo and Jaden Kenny went to the police on their own.
The police found Phumelele Myeza at her house. The Sassa team said these people broke the law by getting into Sassa’s computer system without permission. They used this access to create fake accounts and steal information.
Officials Warned Suspects Pose High Flight Risk
She’s fighting against their request to get bail. She found out they used fake IDs to get Sassa grants.
She thinks they might run away since they have these fake documents. They got these fake papers from someone who works at Home Affairs.
The investigation shows they stole R677 542 from old-age grants. They also took R3.8 million using 41 cards out of 129 they found.
The police arrested 11 people. They face more than 1300 charges including theft and fraud.
The group supposedly ran their scam from August 2024 to March 2025. Some of the people involved are Phiwe Mkhuzangwe (37), Paul Bowes (49), Keamogetswe Ledwaba (49), Phumelele Myeza (37) and Paul Miyambo.
