Since the beginning of the lockdown, people have been struggling to get their social grant where we saw elderly people queuing for hours. It is now September, 5months since lockdown but things have not gotten any better. Some stay in the queue while hungry and this is a life threat to our elderly people. There is no social distancing and this is a huge risk as some can get the Corona virus. I spoke to Ramaisela Mohlala who told me that she was in the que since 5am in the morning. It was around 12:30. The pension money should be taken back to the villages again to save lives of the elderly. While I was standing with Ramaisela I saw people running after a young women and when I ask what was happening the people who were there said ‘ an old woman got her grant and she(the young woman) took the money from her’. This showed how our elders are not safe being away from home to collect their social grant. She was cought and forgetting the social distancing rules people went to see her.
ACT Ubumbano is a network of Southern African and European organisations working for economic, gender and environmental justice.
