The government has paid over N$250 million in child grants to adults who were no longer eligible for the grant.
An audit of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare for the 2024/25 financial year by auditor general Junias Kandjeke shows that the ministry mistakenly paid N$323 million grants to ineligible recipients and deceased persons.
“The audit found 32 890 beneficiaries aged 19-21 years who continued to receive child grants, despite the Child Care and Protection Act defining the age of majority as 18 years,” Kandjeke says.
In 2015, the act lowered the age of majority (legal adult age) from 21 to 18. By 2024, only children up to the age of 18 were eligible for child grants.
“This ineligible group resulted in annual expenditures of N$250 million, highlighting non-compliance with policy requirements and ineffective periodic eligibility reviews,” Kandjeke says.
The auditor’s office also found that some child grants were paid out twice. The audit found that there were 3 350 duplicate child beneficiary records, which means that multiple parents or guardians claimed grants for the same child.
The report says: “2 778 beneficiaries received duplicate grant payments during the financial year, amounting to N$28.8 million.”
The ministry also paid out over N$43 million to beneficiaries who were already dead. Nearly 4 000 already deceased recipients had their benefits processed for over two months after their death was registered.
“The audit could not establish the amount recovered by the ministry due to limited access to Nampost and Epupa reconciliation records,” Kandjeke says.
The child welfare ministry did not respond to questions sent to them by time of going to print.
Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition of Namibia spokesperson Rinaani Musutua says the ministry is not capable of tracking of recipients.
“The government is aware that its system is not a good system. [It needs] a proper electronic system to keep track of who is who, linked to other ministries like home affairs and health,” she says.
Musutua says the BIG coalition advocates for a universal basic income grant.
“The administration [of grants like the child grant] is money spent on policing people rather than on struggling Namibians,” she says.
According to Musutua, a universal child grant would be beneficial for everybody, remove bureaucratic hurdles and reduce the opportunities for corruption.
Social justice activist Junia Kaindjee told The Namibian yesterday that the audit report shows the government is failing the most vulnerable Namibians.
“The government has no moral authority to tell the poor that there is no money. The same ministry that says pensions and the basic income grant cannot be increased has been found to have paid N$250 million in child grants to people over 18,” Kaindjee said.
In June, the gender and finance ministries suspended pension payments to 15 825 old-age pension beneficiaries whose names could not be verified on the registry.
Kaindjee said N$250 million would cover the pensions of all suspended pensioners for nine months.
“A system that demands proof of life from an 80-year-old but cannot confirm the age of a grant recipient has its priorities upside down.
“There must be a public investigation into how many ineligible recipients were paid, for how long and through which offices. Every dollar must be recovered. Anyone found to have failed in their duty, or to have profited, must face disciplinary and criminal consequences,” he said.
Another community activist, Sem David, says the auditor’s findings raise serious concerns about the ministry’s verification and monitoring processes.
“Every dollar wrongly paid to an ineligible recipient is money that may have been taken away from a child who genuinely depends on that grant,” he says.
David says the ministry needs an independent verification mechanism and must ensure that payments are only made after identity, eligibility and caregiver-child relationships have been confirmed.
“At the same time, genuine vulnerable families must not be excluded simply because they lack formal documents. They should be given an approved alternative verification process,” he says.
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