The elderly people of the Alfred Nzo District Municipality supported the Older Persons Amendment Bill yesterday during public hearings conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Social Development in Mount Ayliff at Umzimvubu Community Hall. They told the committee that they welcomed the opportunity provided by Parliament to express their views on the Bill.
As in other districts where the committee has conducted public hearings on the Bill, the Alfred Nzo District elderly people called for the government to assist them to build permanent and secure old age service centres and old age homes. They said these facilities should be guarded by well-trained security guards. They also called for increased protection for elderly people in their homes, especially elderly women who live alone or with their grandchildren.
They also called for older people to be given priority in queues and said that ambulances should be set aside for them so that they do not wait a long time when they call for one. They complained about the appalling state of a hospital in Matatiele, where patients are forced to sleep on the floor and under other patients’ beds because of the shortage of beds. They also said they should receive special attention at the hospitals in the district.
Like in the OR Tambo District, the elderly people in Mount Ayliff said it was a denial of their constitutional rights for spouses of government pensioners not to receive the old age grant. In cases where spouses are separated, those who are not government employees are disadvantaged and left without any income. They called on the government to change the law so that the spouses can be eligible for the old age grant regardless of marriage status.
The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Nonkosi Mvana, said some of the challenges raised, including poor healthcare services, road infrastructure and human settlements, will be relayed to the relevant parliamentary committees, the Eastern Cape provincial legislature and government departments. Ms Mvana encouraged the elderly people to raise water and sanitation problems and other basic services with their local municipalities.
Ms Mvana thanked the elderly people for their attendance at the public hearings and for their meaningful contributions to the Bill. She informed them that all their inputs will be considered when the committee has visited all the provinces and deliberated on them. It will then compile a report and submit it to the National Assembly for adoption. It will then be referred to the National Council of Provinces for its consideration and to the President to assent it into law.
Source: Parliament of South Africa