Parliament, Sunday 30 July 2023 – The Older Persons Amendment Bill, which is currently a subject of a nationwide public consultation process by the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, received overwhelming support from senior citizens in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and surrounding areas, in KwaZulu-Natal.
During public hearings on the Bill yesterday at Newlands East Community Hall in Durban, the elderly people told the committee that they fully support the Bill’s objectives that seek to address some of their lived realities such as emotional and physical abuse from family members and their communities.
Expressing their support for Bill, some of them referred to one of the Bill’s proposals of relocating older persons to a place of safety, they said that will save most of them from acts of abuse by relatives who often misused their social grants and leaving them to suffer on their own.
Some of the proposed additions to the draft legislation included the costs of living in old age homes, the elders alleged that the old age centres took all their social grant earnings, as payment for their stay, and left them with nothing. They suggested that the Bill should make a provision on the monitoring of old age homes and costs. They appealed for a flat rate in all centres so that they can be left with some change.
The older persons also asked that healthcare centres such as clinics and hospitals should give them priority due their advanced age. They said they should not wait a long time for ambulances and that they should be in separate queues at clinics and hospitals for services.
There was also a suggestion for government to invest in more research for the treatment and cure of dementia, an ailment associated with also age. According to the department of Social Development, KwaZulu-Natal is one of the provinces with a high rate of killings of older persons linked to dementia and Alzheimer.
The senior citizens also appealed to the government to bring back the geriatric doctors programme,where these specialists visit old age centres instead of the elders traveling to hospitals. The portfolio committee heard that this programme was discontinued about five years ago without any explanation.
Committee Chairperson Ms Nonkosi Mvana commended the senior citizens for speaking their minds about the draft legislation which directly impacts on their lived realities.
The Older Persons Amendment Bill aims to strengthen the protection and prevention of abuse of older persons, elimination of harmful traditional practices including witchcraft accusations against older persons and recognising the responsibilities of older persons in passing inter-generational knowledge and wisdom. The Bill also seeks to make provision for the removal of older persons to temporary safe care without a court order.
Today the committee will conduct public hearings in the Zululand District Municipality.
Details of the public hearings are follows:
Date: Sunday 30 July 2023
Venue: Ulundi Legislature - Ulundi
Time: 10:00
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MS NONKOSI MVANA.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, please contact:
Name: Sakhile Mokoena
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 081 705 2130
E-mail: smokoena@parliament.gov.za
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