A quarter of all older people living in South Africa may be classified as chronically poor, with most living in households earning less than about R700 per month.
According to a recent report commissioned by HelpAge International (HAI), South Africa has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in Africa, with a particular increase in the 64- to 74-year age category, from 25,8% of the total population of older people in 1996, to 26,5% in 1999.
The report, Chronic Poverty and Older People, notes that while the aged in South Africa continued to work well into the later stages of ageing, fulfilling an important economic role in the household, ”chronic poverty reduces the options of older people to move from producer to consumer”.
HAI notes that in some cases acute poverty is brought on by events during the period of ”near old age”. These events, such as the death of a spouse, the report suggests, have a negative impact on the future well-being of older people, because it strips the aged of assets accumulated during their economically active years.
Pensions are often the only source of income in the family. Moreover, pension-sharing is seen as an integral coping mechanism in cash-strapped households. The study highlights that pension-sharing is often seen as conducive to the social integration of old-age pensioners.
Many of the female interviewees provided child care without payment in cash or kind, and a quarter provided the accommodation where the family was living without financial assistance.
In the northern Limpopo province, older women often help with harvesting, stamping maize, cutting grass for thatching, helping with the sick and providing income from sources other than a pension, such as working for farmers. Some older men contributed by carving plates, spoons and sculptures for the household, or to sell.
”Indeed, it is alarming to note that almost 20% of ‘frail old’ people are still collecting water, and that chronically poor people in this age group are more than twice as likely to be collecting wood and water than the ‘not-poor’,” the report says.
HAI highlights earlier research, conducted between 1996 and 1998, which showed that the poor old were more likely to have experienced illness or disability than non-poor older persons of all ages. A chief concern among the poor old is access to health care and financial resources to meet the need for food, clothing, affordable transportation and community services.
Research also showed that older rural dwellers have a lower level of education and poorer health status, and that fewer received a government pension than their urban counterparts.
”Yet, more older urban dwellers (particularly women) were depressed, felt less respected by the family, and were far less satisfied with their living arrangements than were rural dwellers,” the report notes.
Overcrowding in urban areas is the main cause of dissatisfaction among the old. However, the extended family is seen as an important safety net for the old.
There are also concerns over abuse among the poor old. During a survey prepared for the South Africa’s Department of Health, 53% of older people interviewed had reported personal experience of abuse. The three main types of abuse were psychological, financial and general maltreatment.
The aged are playing an increasing role in supporting family members living with HIV/Aids or children orphaned by the disease. Grandmothers in the study complained of the lack of funds to take sick members of the family to hospital or pay for funeral expenses.
The report concludes that because chronic poverty is not yet an ”analytical concept” adopted by South African policy-makers, ”most policy does not specifically target the chronically poor”.
HAI calls for further research into the living conditions of the aged, with a particular focus on how public policy intervention could reverse the negative impact of poverty on the aged. — Irin