The Portfolio Committee on Social Development yesterday concluded its public hearings programme on the Older Persons Amendment Bill in KwaZulu-Natal. The committee spent four days engaging with members of the public in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, as well as in Zululand, King Cetshwayo and Umkhanyakude district municipalities.
During yesterday’s public hearings in Jozini, Umkhanyakude, the elderly people endorsed the Bill and its objectives of seeking to protect senior citizens from all forms of abuse and to improve their welfare.
The Bill aims to strengthen the protection and prevention of abuse of older people, eliminate harmful traditional practices, including witchcraft accusations against older people, and recognise the responsibilities of older people to pass on inter-generational knowledge and wisdom. The Bill also seeks to make provision for the removal of older people to temporary safe care without a court order.
Many of the people present in the hearings had questions about the process of removing an older person to a place of safety; there was confusion about whether this could be done against their will. After the committee clarified that no one would be moved against their will, there was a huge sigh of relief.
Still on this clause about removals, one submission suggested establishing care centres or old age homes in every district to avoid instances where an old person would be accommodated far from their homes. They also argued that most did not want to leave their home towns and would like to be close to their families.
Another submission, which also dominated public hearings in other regions, was for the government to enforce a law where old people will not wait in the queue in hospitals. The committee also heard that some older people with deteriorating mental health were chained and locked inside the house by their families who did not want them to go missing.
The older people of Umkhanyakude also told the committee that they are unhappy with the new arrangement of receiving their social grants in shops. They want the return of the old paypoints. They alleged that going to the big stores to get their money exposes them to crime, such as pick-pocketing.
There were also other service delivery concerns around housing, water provision and cases of old people without identity documents. The committee Chairperson Ms Nonkosi Mvana said these will be referred to the relevant government departments.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MS NONKOSI MVANA.
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Source: Parliament of South Africa