Pensioners set strict holiday rule for visiting family: ‘Bring your own bread’

For many SASSA pensioners, the festive season means a house full of visitors. It also means one grant has to stretch even further.

Grant recipients are now using humour to set some ground rules.

Pensioners as holiday hosts

Rirhandzu Makhubela came up with a festive acronym on The South African’s Facebook page: “Families that come to visit, during the Christmas Holidays, must BOB,Bring Own Bread,Bring Own Breakfast cereals,Bring Own Bacon,Bring Own Beetroot, Bring Own Butternut, Bring Own Braai vleis, Bring Own Brown onion soup, Bring Own Brandy.”

The list is funny, but the message behind it is serious. Hosting relatives for a week or more can use up a whole month’s grant.

Electricity on the visitors’ tab

Jappie Lephuthing also wants guests to cover the power bill: “Anyone who comes to visit do so coming with food and money to top up my electricity meter.”

Extra people in the house mean more cooking, more kettle use and more showers. All of that drains prepaid electricity faster. Visitors who arrive empty-handed can push a pensioner’s household to its limit.

Behind the humour, real pressure

The Old Age Grant pays R2 400 per month for those aged 60 and older. Over December’s 31 days, that comes to about R77 a day before any guests arrive.

Vasanthie Naicker summed up the worry in four words: “What must we eat Xmas?”

In many homes the pension is the only steady income, so the pensioner ends up feeding the extended family over the holidays. The BOB rule is a joke, but it also asks relatives to share the load.

Small contributions such as groceries, an electricity voucher or help with transport can make a real difference to an older relative hosting family on a fixed income.

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