adminSukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
MANGWE Rural District Council has raised concern over poor administration of social welfare programmes aimed at assisting vulnerable people in the district.The council chairperson, Roland Mafesi Ncube, said a number of extremely vulnerable people had been left out while preference had been given to able-bodied people.
He queried the criterion used by the social services department in selecting beneficiaries.
Ncube said extremely vulnerable old people and orphans were not benefiting.
He said his office had tried on several occasions to get the responsible department to revise their list of beneficiaries but to no avail.
“We have old people and orphans who are desperate for food and clothing within the district. On the other hand we have able-bodied people who are getting assistance through social welfare programmes,” said Ncube.
He said community leaders had to take centre stage in the selection process as they were better placed in identifying beneficiaries.
Ncube said the programme for vulnerable people was supposed to give preference to the extremely needy, especially old people who could not fend for themselves.
He gave an example of an 84-year-old woman from Ngwanyana area who had now become a charity case for the community.
Ncube said the old woman was just one of the many examples of vulnerable people who had to be considered under the welfare programme.
The old woman, Eldah Tshuma, who stays alone, said she relied on handouts she received occasionally from her neighbours. Tshuma said she did not have close family members who could support her as all her children passed away.
She said she was not able to perform household chores for herself because of injuries she sustained some time back, coupled with her old age.
“My neighbour’s children give me water on some occasions because I cannot manage to do it myself. I spend most of my time seated at home because I face great difficulties in moving around.
“If I was still strong enough I was going to plough my fields like all the other people in order to get food. However, I rely on food items which my neighbours pass on to me whenever they feel like it,” said Tshuma.
She said the problem in relying on handouts from neighbours was that they were not a reliable source of food. She said on days when she got nothing from her neighbours she would spend a day or two on an empty stomach.
Tshuma said her medical condition required her to make regular visits to the hospital but she could not because of financial constraints.
She said she had requested to be enlisted under the social welfare scheme two years back but had not received a response yet.
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