Dear Editor,
I am beginning to feel a bit for NIS Publicity and Public Relations Officer Dianne Lewis-Baxter who is having the devil’s job after being bombarded with relentless queries and complaints, and coming under constant pressure from disgruntled, frustrated and irate contributors as she tries to satisfy them and struggles to put to right a deformed, malfunctioning and derailed system.
One of the reasons that propels me to write is the blatant, outrageous and painful things poor people are confronted with daily, some directly caused by the way the system functions and other times by its failings. There is the callous and contemptuous behaviour of institutional officials whose arrogance they must endure when seeking to have a matter rectified or redressed. Thus, from time to time out of frustration, battered and bruised, some of them would approach me with their complaints in the hope they can be highlighted. I maintain that the system’s laws are seldom made in the interest of the working class; poor people would sooner or later die if they obeyed all the laws that were crafted for them. But the really odd thing here is as Black Americans like to say, ‘the man, militates so much against them (poor) that they are forced not play by the rules.’
Here is a story told me by a woman. Whilst living in Mabura her husband died in 1999 leaving her with their two children aged 10-13; she was not working. With some guidance and one year later she started to receive from NIS a token assistance of a little over $2,000 monthly ‘survival benefit,’ which gradually increased over the years. In 2002 she moved from Mabura and took up residence in Linden, trying her hands at various occupations to maintain herself and children, who were still attending school. She even indulged in the fine arts, doing paintings and selling them. She finally settled down to earn a living as a seamstress, which she still does, though she struggles to cope because she is afflicted with glaucoma. In August gone (2010) when she did not receive her survival benefit and went to NIS to inquire, she was informed to her dismay that there was none, and none would be forthcoming since they had discovered that she was being overpaid since 2005, and the benefits would cease until they had recovered the amount overpaid. Now, where is the human face within the structure and operations of NIS that was created to safeguard and protect the small man? Why this inhuman, inconsiderate and profoundly callous act from an institution that deducts contributions from the working class blindly? Which struggling member from the working class who is on the breadline receiving a subsistence of less that 5, 6 and 8 thousand dollars per month over the last five-year period will think of being overpaid! And why should this woman be made the victim and penalized for a bureaucratic mistake after five years? The survival benefit that she was receiving until July was approximately $8,000 monthly; small as it was, she was thankful for the little mercy. It was depended upon and came in handy to assist with purchasing the drug for her eyes – a bottle of 5ml Cosopt which cost $7,560. Her son who has finished school has been getting only piecemeal employment and through frustration he went into the ‘bush’ to make a hustle, but unfortunately contracted malaria, has been hospitalized and is still under treatment. Her daughter is on a scholarship abroad, and cannot render any assistance, and moreso depends on her. In her present state she cannot take in or do much sewing because of the condition of her eyes, and she can no longer afford the drug. Could anyone suggest what legal thing this woman could do to survive? Where she should go for help? The NIS did not even at any time send her a letter explaining their discovery and decision. And she explained that she had given her new address to them since she left Mabura time and time again. This woman is now in a state of tremendous stress and woe. This situation is a form of violence on our womenfolk, and isn’t this proof enough to conclude that poor people cannot afford at all times to play by all the rules? I hope that magistrates take note of these types of cases when such women end up standing before them in judgment for doing ‘a lil hustle’ to ‘ketch deh hand.’ It is this form of ‘survival violence’ of which the system is the main culprit that is brutalizing and oppressing women, making them destitute, forcing them into all sorts of unwholesome and abusive relationships, taking chances just to survive and provide for self and children. It baffles me to figure out the reason some people are hell bent on defending a system no matter how fractured, simply because they are a part of it.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
