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Meeting between residents and the Ministry of Labour and Social Services on the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer Scheme
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
August 21, 2012

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.

Visit the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association fact sheet

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