The King, KZN MECs, Belinda Scott and Weziwe Thusi celebrate early Christmas with the elderly people
Hundreds of senior citizens and the youth descended on Ulundi Royal Residence as part of the poverty eradication outreach led by the MEC for Finance, Belinda Scott in partnership with the MEC for Social Development, Weziwe Thusi and SASSA today.
The objective of the outreach, dubbed Early Christmas Celebration and hosted by His Majesty, King Goodwill Zwelithini KaBhekuzulu, is to arm senior citizens with the knowledge to use their pensions wisely, knowledge of how to keep themselves fit and healthy and how to fight poverty in their households.
The outreach saw two local crèches receiving donations of mattresses, chairs, tables and blankets in order to sustain their function of caring and nurturing children. 50 poor families also received groceries.
Speaking during this event, Scott said the event was born out of the discussion with the King during his birthday celebration and will now be an annual event.
"We follow in your footsteps His Majesty to care for the people. Over the past 20 years, South Africa has been reconstructed in order to focus on development. We are working with National Treasury to get them to come up with an economic policy that is going to fast track people development. Some of the challenges we are dealing with in this area include youth unemployment, financial illiteracy and a variety of social ills affecting this community, ward 20 in Ulundi municipality. We have partnered with DSD to ensure we fight poverty in this area and the entire province" said Scott.
Thusi said they are delighted to have accompanied KZN Treasury during their poverty eradication outreach. "We have a common purpose to care for the community in various ways. We have been advised by the King about the state of poverty in Ulundi area, especially in ward 20. As government, we will get closer to the problems and identify solutions. We need senior citizens and the youth to group themselves and get active physically and economically so that they also can play a role in development.
In his address, the King said, “As we are about to celebrate Christmas, we need everyone to be careful, safe and happy. The visit here by both MECs is an indication of government’s commitment to uplift communities. I want to advise the youth to care for the elderly and protect them. "We need people to live in harmony. They must be an exemplary nation. In 1996 and 2001, KZN had the highest number of elderly people according to Census. This shows that in 2030, we will have more elderly people. We must look after them and not rob them of their pension and rape them. We need the youth to be skilled so they can contribute in economic development of our communities".
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