ELDERLY people in Tzaneen, Limpopo have given the Older Persons Bill a thumbs up.
The bill was introduced by the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Social Development, which seeks to introduce changes to the Older Persons Act of 2006 in order to strengthen the safety and protection of the elderly.
This includes the protection and prevention of abuse, elimination of harmful traditional practices such as witchcraft accusations against elderly people.
Hundreds of residents of Mopani District Municipality in Limpopo gathered at the Nkowankowa Community Hall in Tzaneen on Sunday, 4 June, to make inputs on the bill.
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The residents told the committee they welcomed and supported the bill. They said they expected it to have a positive impact on their lives if properly implemented.
Committee chairwoman Nonkosi Mvana said some of the residents felt the proposed amendments were long overdue. She said in addition to the bill’s objectives, they wished for the protection of elderly people from physical and sexual abuse, and that the legislation must also include verbal and emotional abuse.
She said reservations were expressed by some participants about a chapter in the draft bill which proposes a means test.
"They argued that this would disqualify an older person from getting government social grant in a case where their spouse was a former civil servant and receiving civil pension.
"This was regarded as a discrimination against married couples and that it must be changed or removed to have every elderly person to receive social grant irrespective of the financial status of their spouse," she said.
Mvana said the reason the bill is important is because it will protect the rights of the elderly in the communities.
She said this bill will also allow the government to take elderly people to shelters where they will be taken care of without seeking court orders.
