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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
ABOUT 4 000 vulnerable households in Binga and Umguza districts in Matabeleland North province benefited from the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) this year.

The HSCT, an unconditional cash transfer, was introduced in 2011 by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to cushion labour constrained households.

Binga and Umguza were chosen as the poorest districts in the province and are some of poverty stricken districts that were selected under the facility countrywide.

Beneficiaries are labour constrained and vulnerable households whose bread winners are widows, widowers, people with disability or children who cannot work for themselves.

Each household gets between $20 and $50 depending on the size of the family and the money is paid bi-monthly.

Matabeleland North provincial Social Welfare officer Mr Macnon Chirinzepi last week told the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa in Binga that a total of $112 180 was distributed to about 2 688 households in Binga district in an exercise that finished a fortnight ago.

He said 1 231 households with a similar predicament in Umguza district were set to receive their share amounting to $55 600 any time.

“We finished paying out a total of $112 180 to labour constrained and vulnerable households in Binga yesterday,” he said last week.

In an interview later, Mr Chirinzepi said vulnerable households in the other districts in the province namely Bubi, Hwange, Lupane Nkayi and Tsholotsho were benefiting from a complimentary Public Assistance programme where each household gets $20 per month.

“This is a maintenance allowance given to most labour constrained and vulnerable households and everyone gets $20 per month,” he said.

There are 637 labour constrained and vulnerable households that get public assistance funds in the province and of these, 428 are headed by women while 209 are male headed.

Lupane district has the highest number of vulnerable households under the facility, with 334 beneficiaries followed by Bubi (130), Hwange (118), while Nkayi and Tsholotsho have 61 and 48 respectively.

Child protection committees, with 997 members in the province, are tasked with identifying beneficiaries for the particular facility together with others extended by government such as Basic Education Assistance Module (Beam), Assisted Medical Treatment Order (AMTO), drought relief as well as bus warrants.

The HSCT is jointly funded by the Zimbabwe government and donors and is distributed through the Social Welfare Department.—@ncubeleon