Hundreds of disabled, destitute and elderly people, children and volunteer welfare workers marched through the streets of Pretoria on Wednesday to press for increased government subsidies.
The multiracial group included raggedly clothed children, men with faces showing the scars of a hard life, grey-haired retirees who braved the procession with the aid of walking sticks, and severely disabled people pushed along in wheelchairs.
Chanting ”Welfare is bleeding, the nation is dying”, the protesters made their way along a few blocks to Strijdom Square in the city centre to present a memorandum to a Gauteng government representative.
They used a toy sword to slash symbolically through a large polystyrene heart, which gushed a pinkish substance to represent their concerns.
”Kill subsidy = kill people”, ”Older persons deserve better”, ”People cannot live on promises” and ”The minister is sitting on his creativity” were among the posters displayed by the crowd.
Representative Saartjie Fick said the protest was in response to an announcement by Gauteng social development minister Bob Mabaso in April that government subsidies to the province’s NGO sector would be slashed by about a quarter.
Private welfare organisations have been hard hit, she said, with many home-care projects for the old and disabled having ground to a halt.
”Many people for whom there is no space in special homes and who are too weak to care for themselves are getting no care because there is no money for volunteers to visit them.”
Several community centres have been rendered unable to provide medicines and care to those who need it most, said Fick. This also affects the unemployed, and abused children.
She said welfare NGOs receive about half of their money from the government.
‘It has affected us deeply’
Protester Marion van Niekerk (74) said she knows of many people at her Pretoria North old-age home who are unable to feed themselves, or had to leave because they could no longer afford to stay on.
”It has affected us deeply. There are many destitute people,” she said.
Volunteer welfare worker Peet Jacobs said beneficiaries in Pretoria West are struggling — often having to go without food or clothes.
A teacher from the Inkululeko pre-school in Salvokop, Pretoria, claimed the government has not delivered on its promise to subsidise the school to the tune of R6 per child per day.
”We have never received a cent,” she said as half-a-dozen big-eyed youngsters clung to her legs.
The school cares for 55 disadvantaged children between the ages of three and six.
”We are relying on donations from parents, the community and donor organisations. But it is not enough,” the teacher said.
Wheelchair-bound Precious Seib (28) said he joined the procession ”to fight for my rights”.
”The government is not respecting us. They are taking away our privileges,” said Seib, who is cared for by a grandmother on her monthly government old-age pension.
Syd Eckley, a spokesperson for the protesters, said the most vulnerable will soon be left with no hope of survival.
”We want the government to hear and understand our demands for equal status as a partner with adequate funding to serve the people,” he said before presenting a memorandum to a government official, who promptly drove off.
”By marginalising us, you are placing vulnerable people at risk,” Eckley said.
Gauteng social development spokesperson Sam Muofhe said the department has received R200-million less in the current budget for welfare services than in the previous year.
He said Mabaso has been discussing the matter with NGOs and is trying to resolve the matter.
”While it is everybody’s democratic right to march, we find it a bit strange,” Muofhe said.
He pointed out that welfare funding is not the sole responsibility of the department, saying NGOs also get money from international donors, the business community and other government departments.
”There is a lot of double-dipping going on,” he said. ”We believe that there is no reason for services to be affected.”
The department will try to get additional funding during the adjustment budget period in June, Muofhe added. — Sapa