The Deputy Prime Minister’s (DPM) office has started the process of removing people who are beneficiaries of other pension and social security schemes from receiving elderly and other grants.
The start of this process to remove grant ‘double-dippers’ was confirmed by DPM’s Office Principal Secretary, Siboniso Nkambule. He revealed that the office was drafting a National Social Assistance Bill, which he stated would address welfare issues, including support through cash transfers.
“The Bill will also specify qualification criteria or eligibility to prevent double-dipping (people receiving social assistance from multiple social protection programmes),” he said.
This comes after the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, reported that the DPM’s office had disbursed over E340 million in elderly grants during the 2017/2018 financial year without proper guidelines. The AG also noted that E12.4 million in disability grants had been disbursed over a three-year period (2014-2016) without any disbursement guidelines.
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The lack of a clear framework has led to inconsistencies and raised concerns about the fairness and transparency of the grant distribution process.
Last year, when the office appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the controlling officer told the committee that guidelines for elderly grant disbursement had been developed.
“The DPM’s office has been working on the draft guidelines to address the auditor general’s findings,” he said.
A memorandum dated 11 June 2024 showed the DPM’s office had already submitted these draft guidelines to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and input.
They explained that the office opted to create guidelines or regulations for the elderly grant as it was a faster process than an Act of Parliament. The elderly grant is one of the grants from government that does not have supporting legislation.
However, this year when the office appeared before the committee, the guidelines for the elderly grant had still not been tabled in Parliament.
In an update provided by the PS, he explained that the office had a “bigger picture” in mind and was now drafting legislation. The new law will also fix the long-standing issue of double-dipping.
Last year, during the 2023/24 annual performance report by the House of Assembly DPM’s office portfolio committee, the DPM, Thulisile Dladla, announced that her office was working on initiating a process to remove elderly grant beneficiaries who receive funds from other pension schemes.
This decision is aimed at increasing financial aid for elderly individuals who have never worked but depend solely on government grants. However, the announcement by the DPM received criticism from former civil servants, who claimed that the elderly grant was originally requested for them by previous authorities, and that others were added later.
In 2023, a report suggested that over 27 600 elderly individuals in Eswatini who were already receiving retirement pensions could be removed from government elderly grants to address fiscal challenges. These include members of the Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF) and private pension schemes.
This action aligns with an earlier 2019 plan to remove ineligible beneficiaries from social assistance programmes to improve targeting and manage budget constraints.
The process for implementing such changes involves developing a Social Assistance Bill and ensuring proper monitoring of beneficiaries and disbursement of funds. This will also help government to increase the current E600 monthly stipend received by the elderly.
On the other hand, government is also preparing a National Pension Scheme which will see the conversion of the Eswatini National Pension Fund (ENPF) into a national pension fund.
Upon conversion, members of the national pension scheme are estimated to receive E5 000 to E7 000 in monthly annuities, according to a response given by Minister of Labour and Social Security, Phila Buthelezi, to the House of Assembly labour and social security portfolio committee.
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