Abandoned in Old Age: Elderly in Ancuabe cry out for dignity amid prolonged delays in Social Subsidies

 

In the heart of Ancuabe district, the silence of the elderly is slowly turning into a muffled cry of despair. There are 3,318 elderly people many with physical limitations, others completely alone living at the mercy of a basic social subsidy that hasn’t arrived in months.

Sérgio Cuambe, Director of the District Service for Health, Women and Social Action, publicly acknowledged the long and painful delays in payments during the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons.

“There was a payment in January this year, but since February, there hasn’t been another disbursement. From March 2023 to December 2024, there were no regular payments,” he lamented, citing the difficult economic situation as the main reason.

But for those surviving with less than what’s needed, economic hardship doesn’t fill the plate, buy medicine, or warm the body on cold nights. Among the beneficiaries, 2,009 are women many widowed or abandoned, who now rely on the solidarity of neighbors, when it exists.

“We used to receive the subsidy, which helped ease our suffering,” said one elderly woman, eyes welling with tears during the gathering. Once self-reliant, they are now forced to wait, with fading hope, for an amount that means more than money: it represents dignity.

Despite the crisis, Cuambe assured that efforts are underway to normalize the situation. “Failing to recognize this social group erases our culture, traditions, identity, and the history of our country,” he stated. (Mozanorte)