Elderly grants fears allayed
MBABANE – Despite a temporary halt in the verification exercise for the elderly, who are beneficiaries of the government social grants, they will receive their money every month.
The emphasis was made by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) Office Melusi Masuku. He made the emphasis after government notified the nation about the suspension of the verification exercise that had been ongoing in various Social Welfare offices across the country.
The suspension was necessitated by the ongoing rains that left a trail of destruction in the country’s road network. Several roads have been damaged, which made travelling difficult, even for Social Welfare officers, who were trying to reach out to elderly people. This would have resulted in a larger number of elderly people not receiving their grants this month, because they would have not indicated that they were still alive through the verification process. The DPM’s office uses the verification exercise as proof of life for beneficiaries of the elderly and disability grants. Elderly people are citizens above the age of 60 years. They are eligible for E500, while the disability grant is E280 monthly.
The verification exercise was a preparation for the monthly payment of these grants, which will be piloted for two months.
Disability
“Given the above, the DPMO wishes to assure the elderly and disability grants recipients that they will continue to receive their grants during this period,” said the PS.
Following the halting of the verification, which was announced on Monday, elderly people opted to walk miles to some of the offices, including the DPMO in Mbabane to submit the documents that were needed for the exercise.
According to some of the elderly people who were found at the DPMO, they opted to go to the head office because they feared that they might not get their grants this month, since they had not submitted their documents for verification.
Some of the elderly people were from communities around the Hhohho Region. When they got to the DPMO, they were turned back by the officers who told them the exercise was suspended. Some of the elderly people said they were not aware that the exercise had been suspended. One of them said he was from Herefords, in the Hhohho Region. Sisana Tsabedze said she thought their local offices had challenges, hence she opted to visit the head office.
“The officers did not explain to me why they refused to take my documents yesterday (Tuesday), hence I ended up coming to Mbabane today (yesterday),” she said.
Two other elderly people who hail from Mdzangwini, said they were not told about the suspension. The elderly couple was attended to by one of the officers who had to convince them that they would get their grant even if they had not been verified by the office.
“At least we are relieved that we will get the grant,” they said.
Some felt the office could take their documents so that when the exercise resumed they would not have to go to Social Welfare offices again.
Masuku said the office would announce once the exercise resumed. He further encouraged the public to notify the ministry about beneficiaries who had died, even while the verification exercise remained suspended.
Last week, the DPMO announced that the verification exercise unearthed 34 fraudulent cases of the grant, where relatives had not reported the death of the beneficiaries.