Pensioners challenge govt on grant removal

MANZINI – Members of the Swaziland Pensioners Association have vowed to fight government’s move to remove them from benefitting from the elderly grant, tooth and nail.

This was revealed by the Chairperson of the pensioners’ association, Elliot Mkhatshwa, yesterday. Mkhatshwa said as pensioners, they were shocked when they learnt through the media that the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Thulisile Dladla, publicly revealed that her office would embark on an exercise to remove elderly people who were beneficiaries of other pension schemes, whether public or private, from the elderly grant programme. He said this was because on the same Monday when the DPM made the announcement, they were at her office to discuss such issues and they met with the principal secretary (PS).

The chairperson said government should avoid removing pensioners from the elderly grant programme at all cost, to prevent chaos. He said government should not do things willy-nilly, with the assumption that elderly people did not have energy to stand up for what they believed was right.

He said the elderly people whom the DPM was planning to remove were the ones whom government ordered to fasten their belts and accept that there would be no salary increments, as the country was facing serious fiscal challenges. He said during that time, they were promised that things would be better once the economic situation of the country had improved.

“In short, we are saying we contributed to the development of the country with the hope that we will reap the benefits too, but now the same government we sacrificed for, is planning to remove us from benefitting from the grant,” Mkhatshwa said.

Again, he said they were the same elderly people who approached King Sobhuza II and proposed for this programme (elderly grant), because some of them were earning low salaries and their pension was too little. He said it was King Sobhuza II who suggested that, even the unemployed elderly should benefit and their qualification would be that they had reached the age of 60 years. “So, our advice to government, in particular the DPM’s Office, is that it should take this matter back to the relevant stakeholders and do what is known as consultative meetings,” the chairperson said.

He said as pensioners, they believed that even the Tinkhundla System of Government said such issues should be first discussed with the people at constituency level before they went to Parliament.

The chairperson added that what they were expecting from government was a plan on how it would increase the grant from E500 per month to at least E1 000. He said this was because most elderly people were taking care of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs), while others were living with unemployed children and grandchildren. “It is clear that the grant of E500 needs to be reviewed as the elderly people go to the same shops like everyone else,” the chairperson argued.

Therefore, he said as old as they were, they were prepared to fight this plan tooth and nail.