Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Social Development is to consider amendments to the Older Persons Act, including a clause dealing with people who suffer from dementia and other diseases of the elderly. This follows a visit to an old age home in Chatsworth where they saw old people with mental challenges.
It appears that there is a lack of norms and standards when dealing with the care of older persons. The Committee also urged the Department of Social Development to speedily resolve cases of child-headed households. The Committee found numerous child-headed households in the Umlazi area to be in dire need of social services. They noted with concern that child-headed households were becoming more prevalent.
The Committee also visited South African Social Service Agency (SASSA) sites where they found the re-registration of recipients to be functioning well. SASSA and the National Department introduced the re-registration process to curb fraud amongst social service recipients and department officials. Fraud is eliminated by using the biometrics of beneficiaries during the re-registration.
The Committee noted with concern that the Children’s Court in Chatsworth did not have a waiting area for children who testified cases. It was more impressed with the waiting area of the children’s court in Umlazi Children’s Court, and commended the National Development Agency for projects like the efficient Newport Fruit and Vegetable store in Pietermaritzburg.
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Kanyisa Ndyondya (Ms)
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