Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
would like to commend the Ministry
of labour and social services for
calling for an all stakeholders
meeting in Bulawayo to clarify issues of
concern to residents about the running of the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer
(HSCT) programme.
The all stakeholders meeting was held on Tuesday 21
August 2012 after the BPRA wrote a detailed letter to the Ministry raising
serious issues of anomalies in the administration of the HSCT programme. Some
of the complaints raised were that the programme had not been adequately
publicised to residents and this was causing many fraudsters to take advantage
of vulnerable beneficiaries.
The Association also highlighted that the vetting
process was questionable as some beneficiaries were people that were known to
be well employed and able bodied and yet they were receiving these funds at the
expense of vulnerable groups in the communities. Also of concern to BPRA was
the proxy system which seemed to allow anyone to collect the money on behalf of
the beneficiary without enough checks and balances to avoid fraud.
Furthermore some beneficiaries complained that their
money was being extorted from them as ‘handling fees’, which is having the
money collected on their behalf and or being put on the beneficiaries list. The
matter was also taken to the police to investigate possible criminal conduct by
the perpetrators.
At the meeting the Ministry of labour and Social Services representative
Mr Leon Muwoni called for the arrest and
prosecution of anyone corruptly benefiting from the HSCTP. He stated that he was
disturbed that there were actually some criminals that had been allowed to walk
scot free from police cells simply because they had reimbursed some of their
victims the money they had swindled them of. Muwoni said a criminal case should
be reopened and urged that if there are still some victims who had not been given
back their money, a list of their names must be given to him so that he could
personally make follow ups on the issue.
The delegation of 6 officers from the Ministry of Labour and
Social Services headquarters was to ascertain
the background of complaints raised by
the BPRA to the ministry . Social Welfare officials acknowledged that lack of
proper information dissemination had indeed cause speculation and manipulation
of the whole process. In some wards beneficiaries had allegedly been asked to
pay 5rands to be considered for the process
as well as $2 membership fees for a local residents association. Some
older or disabled beneficiaries were also being asked to pay money for the
collection of their benefits by a proxy which Mr Muwoni stated was not allowed
as the proxy was supposed to also be a listed beneficiary and only meant to collect
the money and deliver it in totality. Clarification was also made on the fact
that members of the Child Protection Committees (CPC)s who are the focal point
persons for beneficiaries, also receive an allowance for their work and are therefore
not supposed to be paid any extra money for coordinating beneficiaries. The
wards currently receiving the funds in Bulawayo are wards 8, 14, 18, 19, 27 and
29.
BPRA, would like to continue to encourage open and
transparent dialogue between the Ministry and residents to ensure the smooth
running of the programme. The association also pledges to continue monitoring
how the scheme is being administered in the 6 wards of Bulawayo to guarantee
that the money gets to its intended beneficiaries.
Information Department
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association
Bus. Tel: +263 9 61196
Cell: +263 772 516 729
Website: www.bprazim.org
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