October is dubbed welfare month and this year’s theme is the plight of the elderly. Pule waga Mabe visited a senior citizens’ centre in Soweto
Thandisiwe Radebe (65) is still trying to settle down and make friends at the Ephraim Zulu Senior Citizens’ Centre in Soweto. She was admitted to the retirement home about four months ago after receiving death threats from residents in her neighbourhood accusing her of witchcraft.
A domestic worker for the better part of her life, she acquired her own home six years ago a modest, two-roomed Reconstruction and Development Programme house that she shared with her daughter and several grandchildren.
“The youth don’t respect old people, they see them as witches and don’t want to stay among them,” says Radebe. In one instance she was forcefully removed from her home in Jabulani by a mob of angry youths accusing her of bewitching one of their friends.
However, Radebe says her short stay at the centre has brought her some peace of mind as she does not have to worry about further abuse and insults.
The Ephraim Zulu Centre is home to more than 100 retired people and has a special programme to care for the frail.
Hermina Mokgosi has been living at the centre for the past 13 years. She wears a warm smile as she points to the new mattresses that have just been delivered. “I love this place, I receive care and everything that I need.”
Asked what she would do if the centre was to close shop, she says: “I will ask them to take me to Avalon cemetery, where I can rest in peace.”
Most of the friends she made when she first arrived at the centre have passed away, but Mokgosi says she has always been able to make friends from the new intake of residents.
“We older people in townships are targets to criminals, they know they can get away with murder,” she says.
Elderly people are often victims of violent abuse. In July an 80-year-old pensioner, who was waiting for her pension at the Springs Kwathema pension point, fell victim to a robber’s stray bullet and died on the scene.
While acknowledging that abuse of the elderly is common in the communities, a caregiver at Ephraim Zulu also lashed out at people who “dump” their parents at the centre and never return to visit them.
The caregiver says the centre receives support from the Department of Health and the Department of Social Development.
Earlier this year, the Social Development Ministerial committee on abuse, neglect and ill-treatment of older persons tabled a report entitled Mothers and Fathers of the Nation: the Forgotten People.
During its research of the nine provinces, the committee established that there is no uniform policy on how to address the needs of the aged and that abuse and neglect of the elderly is still rife.
The committee recommended the provision of community-based services for the elderly, which lay the basis for services for the community as a whole.
During the launch of this campaign in Gauteng, MEC for Social Development Angie Motshekga said the province will “continue to mobilise resources so as to continue to highlight the plight of the elderly”.
Pule waga Mabe is a communications officer in the Gauteng social development department