Eveline de Klerk
Swakopmund-A disabled man has lost his disability grant due to the alleged negligence of some social workers in Rehoboth.
Donavan van Schalkwyk (38), who has been disabled since he was eight months old due to meningitis, has been receiving a state disability grant since childhood.
Currently, his 68-year-old mother, Sophia van Schalkwyk, who also receives the state’s old-age grant, is taking care of him as he is bed-ridden.
A very distressed Sophia told New Era yesterday that her son did not receive his last disability grant, a development that has put them in a predicament as they have to rely on her pension money at least until April when his grant is reinstated.
She says her son is now at the receiving end because of social workers that did not do home visits to verify that her son is still alive and is in need of the social grant.
According to Sophia, she went to the social workers in October last year for re-registration for both of them in Rehoboth.
“I was told that they would come to my house to verify that my son is still alive and eligible for his grant, seeing that he cannot move to do anything for himself,” she said.
However, to her shock, no one conducted the home visit and her son’s disability grant was cut last month.
Upon enquiry, she was told that her son’s details were not verified, hence, the grant was stopped.
“It was a shock to me, as I always go and register when needed by government in order to receive my pension and his grant every year,” the mother said.
She added that this puts her in a predicament as she and her son do not have any other income and that his money assisted them a great deal in terms of buying adult nappies and other hygienic products as well as food for them.
“We are grateful for the fact that the government takes care of people like him. However, it is so unfair that we have to suffer just because people do not do their jobs. How are we going to survive until then on my pension? I want the government to really look into the issue and the challenges that people living with disabilities are facing, especially those that are in the same condition as my son,” she said.
None of the social workers in Rehoboth could be reached on Friday upon enquiry.