19 Jun 2014

The Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri says the national policy on destitute persons needs to be reviewed.

Addressing residents of Tsetseng, Tshwaane, Dutlwe and Khekhenye in the Letlhakeng Sub-district on June 16-17, Mr Matlhabaphiri said what was then considered as a decent standard of living when the policy was formulated back then was no longer the case.

He said the standard measure of a decent living by the World Health Organisation was a dollar a day per person, which was equivalent to P240 a month, whereas under the policy destitute persons were those who earned less than P150 and had  dependents and less than P120 without dependents.  

Mr Matlhabaphiri said the policy also required that one should have a livestock unit of less than four; something which he said was a far cry looking at the fact that even between 10 and 20 cattle might not be enough as a person could not sell a cow every month.

“This means that many people who should be assisted under the poverty eradication scheme are left out because of such low requirements. We are currently working on reviewing this policy to broaden it and cover more deserving people,” he said.

Mr Matlhabaphiri also indicated that such stiff requirements make it difficult to achieve the government’s intention of helping 200 people per constituency in a year under the poverty eradication programme. He said in Letlhakeng West constituency, the number of those who have been assisted in the past four years is 172, even though the number could be many times over.

Mr Matlhabaphiri also expressed concern over cases where beneficiaries are taken for training after being funded, and then their projects equipment takes long to be provided. He also revealed that under review, government intends to increase the amount of each project fund from P10 000 to P15 000, and that schools that intend to assist pupils through backyard gardens will also be assisted under the programme so that students can enjoy a healthier diet at school.

The assistant minister noted that research has revealed that poverty eradication projects are not uniformly suitable across the country and that beneficiaries should be assisted looking at the potential of the project to do better in each specific area. ENDS