By Anna Shilongo
AROAB
Under any circumstances, old people lead exemplary lives while staying away from trouble but the senior citizens of Aroab Village are different.
They indulge in activities that would raise many an eyebrow such as brawling in public while heavily drunk.
The brawling involving these seemingly unruly old hands is more frequent at the end of each month after the pensioners have collected the N$370 monthly State pension which they in most cases splurge on alcohol which seems to top their misplaced list of priorities.
On average, up to 15 pensioners are usually bundled into police custody for crimes ranging from common assault to stabbing victims with broken beer bottles.
It turns out pensioners waste their money on excessive drinking that ultimately leads to violence. And despite Government efforts to provide the elderly with monthly income for their day-to-day survival, pensioners end up spending the money on alcohol. This was revealed during a community meeting held with a team of parliamentarians at the village recently.
New Era also learnt that alcohol is sold on credit at Aroab,
and people can apparently drink as much as they can as long as they have the means to pay back at month end.
Aroab Police Station Commander, Warrant Officer Godfried Kauhanda also expressed concern at the abuse of alcohol at the village by pensioners.
“It is disappointing to see these elders drunk, they spend all their money on alcohol, and their pension only lasts for a week. Come month end and see how they behave,” said Kauhanda.
He said when pensioners get the money they would rather go straight to the bars and shebeens instead of buying something to eat.
While there are those crying out loud to the Government, hoping to one day qualify for elders’ monthly pension, others are squandering it on alcohol.
Some elders at the village do not receive pension because of having South African documents while others have lost their documents.
The officer also expressed concern over what he termed irresponsible parents, adding that in most cases parents give birth and dump their children with elders in the village leaving them to take care of the children with their pension money.
“Which is why you see many children affected by poverty in this village.
Children are not taken care of and some of the elders are way too old, they can not take care of these children. As a result, some end up on the streets,” he said.
Kauhanda says some children are being left alone at home on empty stomachs while others go drinking with their grandparents.