Mozambique: What will Christmas without subsidies be like for thousands of elderly people in Manica ...
File photo: O País
More than 80% of Mozambicans living in extreme poverty are excluded from the social protection system. The national director of Social Assistance speaks of a lack of financial capacity to extend the coverage of this basic service.
Only 18% of vulnerable Mozambicans are receiving state aid; the majority are excluded from the system.
There is no shortage of justification for this low coverage from the National Directorate of Social Assistance, whose director, Moisés Comiche, points to the lack of state capacity to finance programmes for the poorest families.
“We’ve had numbers far below this. There is an annual effort to broaden social protection programmes, as well as adjustments to the beneficiaries’ chart,” Comiche noted.
Adolfo Tocura, a resident of Chagara in Tete province and one of the few beneficiaries, says that in the past he travelled more than 12 kilometres each month for just 210 meticais and, although today the distance is much less, the amount that he receives remains the same.
“I still get only 210 meticais. Many elderly people like me have numerous difficulties getting the money. Sometimes we spend long hours in queues, and there are even those who stay overnight at the pay stations for this amount,” the elderly man says.
This is the reality of social protection programmes in a country where roughly half the population lives in extreme poverty and with an unemployment rate of around 25.3%.
It is against this backdrop that the Mozambican Civil Society Platform for Social Protection began discussion sessions with various stakeholders on this theme in Maputo on Monday.
By Edson Arante
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.