BY MBONO MDLULI
LOBAMBA – Did you know that there are people in this country who use elderly grants to buy food for their dogs?
Yes, there are people in this country who qualify to earn the elderly grants by virtue of having reached 60 years of age. However, these people have other sources of income and use the money they earn as elderly people to buy food for their dogs.
Yesterday (Monday, June 3, 2024) Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thulisile Dladla provoked laughter from most Members of Parliament (MPs) when she stated that other Emaswati who got paid handsomely also received elderly grants and some of them would go to an extent of telling her that they used the money to buy food for their dogs.
Dladla was responding to a question posed by MPs, who wanted to know the position of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office (DPMO) on elderly people who received elderly grants, yet they had other sources of income. She said this matter was difficult because the policies regarding this facility initially stated that all citizens who reached 60 years in this country had to get the money, which was currently E500 per month.
The DPM said it was also found that guidelines that were asked by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), regarding this money, were still not in place. She said her office was still in the process of engaging stakeholders in this matter, with an intention of reaching an agreement that would allow the elderly people to have their welfare improved.
According to the DPM, there were people who earned E30 000 who still received the E500 monthly grants. Some had big businesses, yet they also received E500 reserved for the elderly people, most of whom had not had the privilege of earning an income in their lives. Dladla said there was no need to rush when working on this matter because all of the people who were affected needed to be consulted.
She said the DPMO dealt with about 86 000 elderly people who got the money and about 80 000 of those did not have the privilege of receiving an income in their lives. The DPM said even if some of the handsomely paid could be removed, the more vulnerable elderly people could still not get anywhere closer to the salaries of those that earned around E30 000.
She further drew the attention of the MPs to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa. She said Article 7.2 of this Protocol, which was ratified by Eswatini, states that, “State Parties shall ensure that universal protection mechanisms exist to provide income security for those older persons who did not have the opportunity to contribute to any social security provisions.”
