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.
Issued by Zibonele Mncwango
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Office of the Premier
Tel: (013) 766 2453
Mobile: 079 491 0163
E-mail: zmncwango@mpg.gov.za