Elderly citizens take to the streets in protest
Senior citizens from the Algoa Bay Council for the Aged in Walmer lined the streets yesterday in protest against the department of social development’s slashing of subsidies during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The protesters took to the streets on International Day of Older Persons, saying the department’s actions were causing them serious heartache.
In the meantime, as the protest went ahead, the high court in Makhanda found the department’s decision to stop subsidising the 25 organisations an unlawful repudiation of their service level agreements (SLAs).
Algoa Bay Council for the Aged CEO Maureen Andreka said they had signed SLAs with the department and had been meant to receive funding for 12 months.
The subsidy from the department would be received at the start of every financial year on April 1.
“In May, we received a circular from the department advising that it considered that certain services couldn’t be delivered to the elderly due to the lockdown,” Andreka said.
“However we acquired permits to continue serving our senior citizens [as] some don’t have families in SA to support them, while others don’t have families in general and solely depend on us.
“The department never engaged with nonprofit organisations to find out if we wouldn’t be able to render services, and we were forced to dig into our reserves to be able to service the elderly.”
She said food donations from generous community members, churches and businesses had helped them to be able to provide services.
“We are protesting because we want the subsidy for the six months that’s been cut, which amounts to R297,600, which is R200 per person per month,” she said, adding that the subsidy had not been increased since 2007.
“The other nonprofit organisations in the Eastern Cape for the elderly received the circular as well.
“We are protesting for them as well,” Andreka said.
The umbrella body for 25 organisations, Imbumba Association for the Aged, last week went to court on an urgent basis to challenge the decision and to force the department to heed the terms of their SLAs.
Imbumba chair Nomalinge Mlindi said they provided services as caregivers.
“Even service centres need money. There’s petrol needed for vehicles.
“We work hard for the department of social development,” Mlindi said.
She said the department was wrong in continuously making decisions that concerned them without engaging with them as caregivers.
Eastern Cape department of social development spokesperson Mzukisi Solani said there were two forms of centres aimed at the improved welfare of elderly people — residential old age homes and service centres.
“The service centres in question are not residential but centres where the elderly attend daily for recreational activities.
“They receive nutritious meals as well.
“The department is specifically subsidising these centres for those activities.
Due to the strict lockdown regulations, the elderly people were expected to be at home and the centres were expected to be closed.
“Therefore, the subsidies that were meant for the activities listed above were redirected for the Covid-19 pandemic demands as every department in government was expected to contribute, ” Solani said. He said the government had increased the monthly social grants for the elderly to cushion them while they were at home.
According to Solani, the nongovernment organisations did not approach the department to inform them that they would be rendering services during lockdown.
“The department of social development does all it can to fulfil its constitutional mandate in subsidising as many nonprofit organisations as possible in the province.
“Therefore we would have wanted to increase funding to as many organisations as possible, but it is a daily struggle due to budget constraints,” Solani said.