(MENAFN- The Post) QUTHING – OLD frail and broke. This has been 85-year-old 'Masokolang Ratšoeu's situation as she struggles to get the government to release her pension.
Ratšoeu, from Daliwe, a rural area in Quthing, is among several elderly people being forced to live like paupers because of problems in accessing their pensions at a time they need them most.
In Ratšoeu's case, problems started this year when she got a new ID. She has been getting her pension regularly since she became eligible when she turned 70 about 15 years ago.
She had been using a voter's card as a form of identification, until she decided to get a proper ID after she heard for the first time that the country had a national identification document system.
When the ID came, it erroneously put her age at 68, making her“too young” to qualify for pension – never mind that her actual age is 85 and had been receiving the money for 15 years before the new ID.
“When the ID came my age had changed,” she said.
Ratšoeu's national ID shows that she was born on February 3, 1953. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) voter's card she had been using all along states that she was born in 1936.
Ratšoeu said she only realised the anomaly after being told that she couldn't get her pension because she was below the qualifying age of 70 four months ago. The mistake by the home affairs ministry has left Ratšoeu in a fix.
She hasn't received her pension to date, as officials shunt her from one ministry to the other without solving the problem.
“I entirely rely on the pension for my daily basic needs,” said Ratsoeu, who has continued visiting the pensions' office every pay day despite repeatedly returning home empty handed.
“This month they told me that they had permanently removed my name from their records,'' she said.
Ntsebeng Ratšoeu, a neighbour who is also a relative said Ratšoeu“is so old that it is possible that she doesn't remember her birth year clearly”.
Ntsebeng said she has always known Ratšeu and“she cannot be 68 years old”.
“Because of her age, which we believe is 85, she can no longer do some house chores,” said Ntsebeng.
“She has been surviving on pension money for a long time,'' said Ntsebeng, adding that Ratšeu's children are struggling to make ends meet and cannot afford to take care of their mother.
This has seen neighbours chipping in to ensure that Ratsoeu does not starve to death.
Her daughter 'Manyeliso Ratšoeu is baffled by the turn of events.
“The suggestion that my mother was born in 1953 is an insult. It is ridiculous because it means that she gave birth to me when she was only 12 years old. What they are saying is that my mother was married before reaching puberty,” said 'Manyeliso, who was born in 1965.
'Manyeliso, who is unemployed, says she is living from hand to mouth and she is unable to continuously help her mother financially. They live on subsistence farming, which is not always successful. 'Manyeliso's brother in South Africa sends small amounts infrequently as he is also struggling.
'Matieang Rateleki is 83 years old. She last received her pension in December last year and life has been hell since then.
Rateleki's niece, 'Mamojalefa Ntoko, said the old woman has been struggling and officials from the pensions office have failed to provide a coherent explanation on why she is failing to receive her pension.
“Because she is old and is struggling to travel to town I am the one who was collecting the pension for her,” Ntoko said.
Ntoko said Rateleki did not receive her money in January when other pensioners were receiving their money for December.
Ntoko said they initially thought the probe would be quickly solved“but until today she has not received the money for December”.
Ntoko said she took the initiative to register Rateleki's name on the list of people who are not receiving their money“but nothing has changed up to now”.
Ntoko said attempts to get further clarity were met with arrogant responses.
“They were so rude. They said if she has not received her pension from December until today it is clear that the government will never pay her,” she said, adding that Rateleki's children even decided to take their mother to stay with them in South Africa.
The councilor for Daliwe Ha-Hlahela, 'Makabelo Ntai, said she had heard about the pensioners failing to access their pension money.
She said she had been particularly touched by Ratšoeu's case.
Ntai said as the councillor of Daliwe she knows Ratšoeu very well.
“I know Ratšoeu very well. Her age-mates and others younger than her are earning their pension money,” Ntai said, adding that she has engaged the village chief to intervene.
The chief village for Daliwe Ha-Sekhobe, Chief Bereng Sempe Nkuebe, confirmed that Ntai had approached him about Ratšoeu's situation.
He said he plans to write a letter confirming Ratšoeu's real age so that she can resume getting the pension money.
Chief Nkuebe said cases of pensioners failing to access their money are becoming widespread in the villages under his jurisdiction.
“But the problem is that the pensioners do not report it to me so that I can intervene,” the chief said.
Keneuoe Mojaki, an official with the Ministry of Finance's Pension Department, said they have been announcing on radio stations that pensioners who have not received their pensions will be paid all their dues.
“One of the major reasons why pensioners may fail to get their money is because their names are not there on the list,” Mojaki said.
“However, we are working on that. Even if they don't get all their money at once, at least they go home with the money for one month,” she said.
Majaki said the department has created a WhatsApp group which accommodates all the chiefs and councilors to facilitate easier communication.
She urged affected people to alert their chiefs and the councilors about the problems and to ensure that the local leaders are present on pay days to intervene in such cases.
She said after paying the pensioners the department provides chiefs and councilors with a report containing names of pensioners who would have failed to access their money for a variety of reasons.
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Tumelo Raboletsi, said they use two processes to deal with cases of old age pensioners who are not sure about their age.
The first one is to ask them about the events that took place during their birth years or their childhood.
He said the second is to even go further to find their age mates and relatives in their villages, people who know them from their childhood.
Every month there are howls of complaints in the media about old age pensioners failing to get their dues.
One radio station has made it a norm to publish the names of those left out in the cold.
Home Affairs Minister Motlalentoa Letsosa has launched an unofficial programme of visiting villages to identify eligible people who do not have IDs.
Every month ever since he became a minister last year Letsosa has facilitated the issuance of IDs to over 100 elderly people in rural areas, thereby enabling them to get their pensions.
Refiloe Mpobole
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