New system rejects 18 000 social grant recipients

The Namibian visited one of the pay points in Windhoek, where hundreds of pensioners and people with disabilities waited for hours at the labour ministry”;s office in Khomasdal.

Most beneficiaries normally receive their grants within the first week of every month.

The ministry”;s executive director, Esther Lusepani, in a statement issued on

Wednesday said the system rejected 18 503 beneficiaries, which included 4 156 deceased beneficiaries and 249 with expired disability grants.

This comes after the ministry completed the first run of the Integrated Social Assistance System (ISAS), which replaced the Social Assistance System (SAS) in June 2022.

“The reason for the disparity is that some of the data transferred from SAS to ISAS could not be positively verified against the National Population Registry System as an authentic record of the particulars of a given beneficiary,” Lusepani said.

This was due to a variety of factors, including invalid ID numbers, misspelt names and surnames, incorrect dates of birth, possible fraudulent IDs and identity theft, to name a few, Lusepani added.

“All members of the public who may not have received their grants in July or have enrolled/applied for different grants with a reference number, or have changed their names on national documents after application, are urgently urged to visit our nearest offices before Friday, 15 July, for their August payment,” she said.

Lusepani called on pensioners to conduct verification themselves at the nearest ministry offices.

One of the frustrated beneficiaries, Marianas Hailonga (62) said she is very disappointed after she woke up at 05h00 yesterday morning but had still not been assisted in getting her pension.

“I am so tired of standing here and I really don”;t want to come back again because I was already here yesterday [Wednesday] morning and was not assisted,” Hailonga said.

She said she had not yet received her pension this month, which is the only money she survives on.

“From that money I buy food for my grandchildren. Now these people have not paid us yet, our food will finish soon and we will be left with nothing to eat at home,” she said.

Hailonga said coming back to the Khomasdal offices will be difficult, as she lives in Okuryangava, Katutura.

Also waiting in the long line was Vessel Ganeb, who was standing in line with his 22-year-old brother Franky Ganeb, who has Down”;s syndrome.

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