Some Durban residents who received senior citizens’ food vouchers from eThekwini Municipality felt humiliated when they went to stores to buy groceries only to be told the vouchers had already been “used” or that there was little money loaded on them.
‘The Mercury’ has learnt of at least four incidents in which intended beneficiaries were unable to use their vouchers.
In other cases, it was alleged that some of the tills at the stores where the vouchers were being used had problems.
Valued at R650, the vouchers were distributed to vulnerable elderly people across the city. Each ward received about 500 vouchers, which were distributed by ward councillors, and close to 55 000 vouchers were distributed.
Distribution of the vouchers was the subject of fierce contestation. Public representative councillors had demanded to be given a portion of the vouchers to give to residents as they said ward councillors misused the process for political gain and gave them out to those affiliated with their political parties.
Their concerns were, however, dismissed by speaker Thabani Nyawose.
It has now emerged that there were at least four cases where residents were unable to use their vouchers.
In one case, a resident tried to purchase with the voucher and found that it had already been used. In another case, the amount of money loaded was far less than the value of the voucher.
A resident said, “I went to collect the R650 voucher on behalf of my 93- year-old-mother. I went to (a major retail store) to buy Christmas groceries and when I went to pay at the counter the teller told me that there was no money on the voucher. I had to pay from my own pocket, using my bank card.
“The teller at the counter told me that a number of customers have been presenting vouchers that have been fully or partially used,” said the resident.
Asked about the matter, Chesterville councillor Hugh Makhathini said he had not received a report of that incident or anything similar to that.
DA councillor in ward 68 Aubrey Snyman said that he had two cases in his ward that he referred to the municipality to investigate.
“The vouchers were for R650 and the resident was expecting to spend that amount, when the complainant got to the till, she found that in fact there was only R119 in the voucher, and the other resident found there was only 90 cents in the voucher.
“It was a hugely embarrassing experience for them,” Snyman said.
Another resident claimed to have personally witnessed the abuse of the process to distribute the vouchers.
“I was shocked to see that vouchers were given to many who did not fit the criteria.
“These people were well dressed and came with expensive cars.”
DA leader in eThekwini, Thabani Mthethwa said: “There have been few reports of cases where beneficiaries had vouchers without enough cash loaded on.
“I think this is grossly unfair on both the beneficiaries and the councillors. This whole thing has been a nightmare for councillors because the vouchers are very few compared to the number of deserving beneficiaries. The municipality must ensure that all vouchers are loaded with the amount as expected,” said the DA leader.
IFP leader in eThekwini Mdu Nkosi said some of their councillors had experienced problems with the vouchers being processed at tills.
Mayoral spokesperson Mluleki Mntungwa said they had not received any information of people being unable to use their vouchers.
He said those affected should get in touch with their councillors.
The Mercury