Daily Dispatch Correspondent

PORT ELIZABETH -- Pensioners yesterday won a court battle against Bisho, with one of them in line for a massive back payment.

Port Elizabeth widow Joan Wild, 66, of Central Hill, has not been paid a cent since her application for a pension was approved in 1997.

In his ruling yesterday, Mr Justice Joe Ludorf ordered Welfare MEC Nomsa Jajula to pay Mrs Wild within 14 days all the pension money owed to her since October 1996 -- totalling nearly R20000 -- and to continue paying her monthly.

The other six pensioners, all township residents, just want Bisho to process their pension applications. The court ordered the Welfare Department to consider and decide within 14 days upon their applications for social assistance grants.

They have been waiting in vain for two years or more since handing in their forms.

The court ordered Bisho to make known its decision within 21 days to the six applicants' attorney.

A seventh pensioner, who had not received a cent since the approval of her grant almost a year ago, won an order compelling the provincial government to pay her within 14 days, and to continue doing so on a monthly basis for as long as she qualifies.

The judge also ordered Bisho to pay the costs of the pensioners.

In similar affidavits stating their case, the applicants all claim that even after numerous inquiries about their grants they received no response from the executive council for welfare.

This was despite the fact that no legal grounds existed upon which their applications could be refused.

They also claimed that the department's failure to process and award the grants infringed on their fundamental rights to human dignity, their rights to lawful administration in terms of the Constitution, and that they were being severely prejudiced.

The six applicants were Mr Munzimunye Tshabalala, 67, Mrs Misiwe Xabeke, 62, Mr Obed Muzarewethu, 79, Mrs Nomatamsanqa Sapula, 61, Mr Fikile Gomomo, 67, and Mrs Winnie Qiko, 68.

They all told the court that the decision as to whether or not they qualified for the grants was "a simple factual inquiry".

They said all necessary information was contained in their applications, and that the decision was not discretionary.

Mr Tshabalala, who shares R470 a month with his wife, said he had applied for the grant in October, 1996.

Mrs Xabeka, who is divorced and unemployed, has waited in vain since December, 1996.

Mr Muzarewethu, who has had a fruitless wait despite monthly inquiries since applying for a grant in July, 1996, said the department's failure was an infringement of the Constitution, which compels it to perform its obligations "diligently and without delay".

He said the Constitution was also being infringed in that the state must respect, protect, promote and fulfil his rights as set out in the Bill of Rights.

Mrs Sapula, Mr Gomomo and Mrs Qiko, have all waited two years or longer.

The seventh applicant, Mrs Wild, said she was advised in November 1996, when she applied for the grant, that it would take between four and five months before she received her money.

After hearing nothing for 11 months, she contacted the department and was told that her grant would be paid in "either December 1997, or January, 1998".

When she contacted the department in January, she was told she would be paid in either February or March. She was then told in June she would be paid in August.