Premier Mabuza holds a dialogue with Ehlanzeni older persons
08 April 2014
Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza
today [Tuesday, 08 April 2014] held a special dialogue with more than 1 500
older persons from and around Ehlanzeni District municipality.
The elderly did not waste time and
told Premier Mabuza their general problems challenging their lives. In the
main they complained about “not being prioritised” in getting the RDP
houses, faraway clinics, cut-offs of their water and electricity that these
greatly inconvenienced their lives.
Although they came from five
different local municipalities [Bushbuckridge, Nkomazi, Umjindi, Mbombela
and Thaba Chweu], their concerns were more or less the same as they were
based on service delivery by both the provincial and local government.
They said they survived only on
pension grants and their lives became extremely difficult without water and
electricity due to cut-offs by the municipalities. Lack of consistency in
the billing systems for water and electricity frustrated them as they were
demanded to pay huge amounts of money.
They said some people walked long
distances to get water from other areas. Another old woman told the Premier
that at one stage she had to fetch a taxi to go to another village to have
her clothes washed as her community had no water at all for weeks.
Whilst some appreciated that
government had built clinics, they complained that they were far away and
they operated only during the day. They asked the Premier to consider
building new ones nearby as they were forced to wake up early and walk long
distances.
They also told the Premier that
government needed to do follow-ups on the service providers who had been
awarded the tenders as their work in building the RDP houses was shabby.
Another woman was heard saying her RDP house was falling apart.
Further, they said councillors did
not know about their problems because they only waited for communities to
come forward and tell them about their challenges.
In his response, Premier Mabuza the
elderly needed to be looked after by protecting their rights. He said they
had different special problems which required the government’s attention.
“As a government we should come closer to the older persons because they cannot help themselves since they are old. We are going to set up structures that will deal with issues that affect them directly, streamline them into older persons’ forums.
“This is the beginning of the journey we will walk together with them; otherwise we cannot be a nation unless we protect the rights of the elders,” said Mabuza.
Responding to issues of
unemployment, Premier Mabuza called on the graduates in the province to
register their information and be in the database of the municipalities in
order for government to find them easily when looking for certain skills.
He explained that government was
advertising the posts in the media that needed to be filled and graduates
should apply just like anybody. He added that having a matric certificate
was not enough, however in order to be absorbed in the labour market, they
needed specific skills in order to be employable.
He explained that the provincial
Health Department needed to do a yearly assessment on the clinic’s services
to check if it was still necessary not to operate them 24hours a day based
on the growth of the population.
With regards to the elders not
having the identity documents, the Premier said such indicated a problem,
and it was mostly the communities neighbouring Mozambique and Swaziland that
were affected.
“It is not a given that if you are old you will be given an identity document, Home Affairs needs proof that your are a true citizen and why it took you so long to apply for one. We do not mind living here with you if you come from Mozambique or Swaziland, our government can only issue you with an ID if you are married to a South African,” said Mabuza.
The Premier further warned
communities not to dump the elderly people at the old age homes, but should
take them there only if they wished so.
“Black and white are different in terms of their cultures and traditions. While white prefer to take their old to these homes for the aged, black people prefer to live with their children and grand-children and be taken care of up until they die,” said Mabuza.
Other dialogues will be held in
Nkangala and Gert Sibande districts a week later after Easter holidays.
Enquiries: Mr Zibonele Mncwango
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Tel: (013) 766 2453
Mobile: 079 491 0163
E-mail: zmncwango@mpg.gov.za