It looks as if the way elderly grants are distributed by
the government in Swaziland / eSwatini is leading to theft and fraud, the kingdom’s Auditor General reported.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s Office is responsible for the
grants (pensions). People aged 60 and over are entitled to E400 (US$30) per
month. About 70,000 people are thought to receive the grants which often
are the only income a family has.
Timothy Matsebula, the Auditor General, in his report for the year ending March 2018 said E1.7
million was unaccounted for. He said if a person failed to collect the
quarterly grant twice in a row, social workers had to investigate to see if
that person was still alive. These checks were not being carried out.
When the Auditor General’s office conducted its own
survey it found many of the people receiving grants were in fact dead or
unknown in their local community.
He also said elderly social grants amounting to E130,835.00 were collected
by other people on behalf of those who had died.
He reported, ‘I am therefore concerned that the uncollected funds are
susceptible to misappropriation, theft, and fraud.’
He
added, ‘The collection of the grants was fraudulent as the rightful
beneficiaries were deceased. I am worried that there could have been more
unlawful collections since my audit was based on a sample of beneficiaries.’
The Auditor General also found that uncollected grants distributed
through Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) and banks were
not sent back to government at the end of each quarter. More than E7.8 million
had not been returned.
He
reported, ‘It concerns me that the unreturned amounts have a negative impact on
the Government’s cash flow as the funds could have been used
beneficially elsewhere. It is also highly probable that these funds were
unnecessarily allocated to deceased and unknown beneficiaries.’
He
added, ‘I am concerned that the accumulation of the funds in these accounts
could lead to their loss through theft.’
As recently
as November 2018 state radio in Swaziland broadcast that
the
grants could not be paid on time because the Swazi Government did not have
the money.
In 2017, the National Strategy and Action Plan to End
Violence in Swaziland: 2017 to 2022 reported more than 80 percent of women aged
60 and over and 70 percent of men lived in poverty.
See
also
Swaziland has no cash to pay elderly pensions, Prime
Minister says he will fly business class to save money
Swazi
Govt fails to pay elderly grants
8
in 10 Swazi elderly are in poverty
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