Elderly women refused grants

Practical evidence is to the effect that some elderly women were turned back at Lobamba Lomdzala Inkhundla because their thumbs did not have clear prints.

Officials dispatched to disburse the social grants are said to have refused to give them their grants because they could not match their thumb prints with the documents brought from the Deputy Prime Minister’s office. Nkilongo MP Trusty Gina said she had evidence carried by the Lobamba Lomdzala MP to this effect.

She said this yesterday before the DPM Themba Masuku while chairing the portfolio committee looking into the department’s operations.

"Whose sin is it that the elderly’s thumbprints are worn out? If the officers you have in your office will not work diligently, they’ll destroy your integrity, which is known globally," she told the DPM. Deputy Speaker and Mbabane East MP Ester Dlamini pleaded with the DPM’s office to consider increasing the social grants. Elderly people are currently entitled to E500 each, which is distributed at Tinkhundla Centres biannually.

Kwaluseni MP Sibusiso Mabhanisi Dlamini caused laughter in the House when he, being the last speaker at the request of the DPM, invited Masuku to visit the densely populated Mbhuleni location to see the tough conditions under which the elderly live.

Mbabane West MP Johane Shongwe wanted to know from the DPM what was done with the money that was not collected by its intended recipients.

The DPM, who was in a hurry to leave for Zimbabwe on state duties, said responses to the MPs’ concerns would be brought back to the house by the the acting DPM who would act on his behalf within the stipulated 48 hours.

However, he expressed his wish to meet the portfolio committee later on to discuss all the pertinent issues raised as they touched mainly on the lives of different kinds of citizens.

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