Cape Town senior citizens to tell Minister Dlamini about their problems
The Minister for Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, will on Wednesday, February 12, meet and engage with the older persons of Cape Town, Western Cape Province, to discuss their socio-economic challenges.
The meeting with older persons comes as a precursor to President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address, which will take place on February 13. More importantly, the meeting will build towards the commemoration of Human Rights Day on March 1.
Minister Dlamini has raised a number of concerns about the reported violation of older persons’ rights. Numerous reports of physical abuse and neglect of older persons throughout the country, especially in areas with high levels of alcohol and substance abuse and gang violence, continue to surface. Older persons are also reported to suffer financial abuse by their own families, who misappropriate their social grant income, and in the hands of loan sharks and financial companies that sell them financial products they do not need.
During her meeting with Cape Town senior citizens, Minister Dlamini will address some of these concerns and any others that will be raised with her. The Minister will also use the opportunity to share with older persons some of government’s programmes that are in place to help them enjoy a better quality of life.
President Jacob Zuma made a call in September last year that the current generation of older persons must be taken seriously and be treated with dignity and respect. During the launch of Older Persons Week, President Zuma told South Africans that older persons lived through troubled times, worked hard and raised their children and grandchildren and cared for families, and therefore required all the help they can get.
The meeting with older persons is held under the banner of the department’s Project Mikondzo - a service delivery improvement initiative aimed at improving access to the department and its entities’ (The South African Social Security Agency and the National Development Agency) services.
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the event, which will take place as follows:
Date: 12 February 2014
Venue: Good Hope Centre, Cape Town (Next to Military Museum)
Time: 10h00
Media RSVPs may be directed to Jaconia Kobue on 073 026 1111.
Media enquiries may be directed to:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8067
E-mail: lumkao@dsd.gov.za
