Botswana - Apply for Old Age Pension Allowance

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Procedure

Apply In-Person

1. To apply for Old Age Pension Allowance/grants, Eligible pensioners are required to register either with the Pension Officers at the District Councils or Sub District Council Office (social service office), or Social Protection Department headquarters office. Use this link to view the District Councils or Sub District Council Office address details : Link
2. Applicants will be required to provide their National Identification Card to prove their age and place of residence, by the Social Protection Department officer or social service officer.
3. You will be given an Application Form for Old Age Pension Allowance by the social Protection Department officer to fill, the application form is not available online, and you can only get it at your nearest social service office or Social Protection Department office.
4. The completed Application form, attached to the identity card should be submitted to Social Protection Department office or social service unit at the district council offices.
5. The officer shall verify that all the necessary information and documents have been provided and that the applications comply with the selection criteria before the applicant bio-data is captured for the vetting processing to begin. During vetting, applicants will have to go through a community validation exercise before the first payment cycle.
6. After the lapse of the vetting period (usually one month). Check the outcome of your application, at the office in which the application was made, if approved you will be issued registered as a beneficiary.
7. Following registration beneficiaries, Pensioners will have a choice on how their wish to access their allowance as:
   • Cash from Pension Officers at the Kgotla
   • Cash from Post Offices in areas where they are available
   • Bank credits in beneficiaries bank accounts
8. Beneficiaries who prefer to be paid their allowance in cash are issued with order books after four weeks. Beneficiaries are expected to present their order books during payment.
9. Beneficiaries who prefer to be paid their allowance in Bank credits, there will be required to open a bank account, if they do not have an account with the designated Payment Service Providers (PSP) who handle the cash transfer and present the bank account details to be registered by the Social Protection Department office.
10. A beneficiary who is unable to collect their old age pension due to; (Ill health, Old Age, or physical disability), may appoint any person of his/her choice, preferably a relative to receive the allowance on their behalf. The Proxy must produce his/her Omang get the allowance.
11. Payments are usually made after one month currently; the pension allowance is BWP530.00 per month. This is subject to constant review.
    

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Required Documents

Valid National identity card (Omang)

Office Locations & Contacts

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development
Address: Government Enclave Main MallGaboroneBotswana
Private Bag 006
Gaborone, Botswana TEL: 0800 600 718
Tel: (+267) 365 8400
Fax: (+267) 397 2382
Toll Free: 0800 600 718
E-mail: [email protected]

Department of Social Protection Office:
Headquarters office
Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development
Address: Plot 54357,Varsha, CBDPrivate Bag 0097
Gaborone
Telephone (+267) 3971916.
Fax. (+267) 397-1866
Ministry contact details Link

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development
District Councils and Sub District Council offices contact details Link
Opening hours: 7:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday, except public holidays, and weekdays

Eligibility

Applicants should meet the following criteria to be eligible;

• Be a citizen of Botswana
• Have attained the age of 65 and above
• Have a valid Omang
  

Fees

No fee associated with the service

Validity

It is valid until the elder is deceased

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

The time around for processing the application is within one month

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

IMPORTANT NOTES
Life Declaration 
A beneficiary who receives the allowance through bank credit or through proxy is required to make a life declaration once in every six months, failing which the payment is automatically suspended until he/she declares, in which case he/she would be entitled to arrears.

How to access missed payments (arrears)?
A beneficiary who is unable to collect his/her allowance during payments will be paid arrears cumulatively for six months which he/she has to apply for through the department or service provider.

Conditions applied:
An old Age Pensioner who is serving a prison term or is on an extra-mural sentence, payments are stopped up to the month he/she is released from prison or complete his/her sentence and he/she is not entitled to arrears for that period.

• Arrears can only be claimed within a continuous period of twenty-three months from the date of application. Arrears beyond twenty-three months is forfeited.
  

Required Information

• Full name of the applicant
• Contact details
• Residential address details
• Identity card details
• Age of the applicant
• Declaration by the applicant
  

Need for the Document

This is an initiative by the Government of Botswana under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development that seeks to provide cash transfers to elderly Batswana citizens above the age of 65 to enable them to live dignified lives.

Information which might help

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Other uses of the Document/Certificate

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e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

GOV BW procedure link: Link

Others

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