More than 15 000 old-age pensioners affected by a beneficiary verification exercise are expected to have their outstanding payments finalised by October pay day, minister of gender equality and child welfare Emma Kantema says.
The suspension of payments for hundreds of pensioners followed an audit query which flagged pensioners whose records were captured using old South African identity documents and outdated information.
Beneficiaries were required to update their identification documents to remain on the system.
Kantema made the revelation in the National Assembly on Tuesday while responding to questions from Swapo minister of parliament (MP) Uahekua Herunga and Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) MP Lilian Luthuezi.
In his question, Herunga said the affected pensioners were in dire need of the money to support themselves and their families.
“The process was necessary to verify all the documents needed to be captured on the system. As a result, around 15 785 old-age pensioners were affected,” Kantema said.
She said the ministry hopes to clear the backlog by October, including the increased pension payment of N$1 700, up from N$1 600.
Of the 15 785 beneficiaries affected, 10 066 have since been reinstated on the system and are receiving their payments, Kantema noted.
She acknowledged that the verification process has been slow, particularly when pensioners visit ministry offices to update their information.
To speed up the process, the ministry intends to recruit interns and temporary employees to assist with verification and data capturing before the information is handed over to the Ministry of Finance for payment.
A steering committee has also been established and elevated to the two line ministers to expedite the process and ensure all affected and verified beneficiaries are reinstated.
“I want to assure the members that both ministries are seized with the matter.
We are also not pleased with the process, but we have revised the mechanism with assistance from the prime minister to ensure we pull all resources, be it overtime, to cover more ground and capture all the over 15 000 beneficiaries,” Kantema says.
Luthuezi questioned the way forward, saying the verification process had already taken too long.
Kantema says the beneficiary life-status verification exercise covers both the old-age pension grant and the child welfare grant.
She reiterates that the 10 066 beneficiaries already captured have been paid, while the remaining beneficiaries are currently being processed.
