adminSpeaking at a stakeholders’ workshop attended by about 40 people who included journalists from different media houses, representatives from HelpAge Zimbabwe and its international office, National Aids Council and different Government departments in Harare yesterday, the participants said there was a lack of commitment by the Government and organisations that dealt with issues affecting the elderly in the country.
This comes amid revelations that the elderly in the country make up about seven percent of the total population.
The workshop was held under the theme “Focus on senior citizens in 2012 and beyond” with the aim of influencing responsible authorities to expedite policy making on issues affecting the elderly.
The executive director of HelpAge Zimbabwe, Mrs Priscilla Gavi, challenged policy makers to prioritise issues affecting the elderly because they were the ones who bore the burden of taking care of the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVCs).
“There is lack of commitment from the Government and organisations to support the elderly and this is compounded by lack of prioritisation by policy makers as evidenced by the delay in finalising the Old People’s
Bill that has been on the cards for more than 10 years now,” she said.
The Old People’s Bill was mooted in 2002 as the Government moved to implement recommendations from the International Convention held in Madrid, Spain in 2002.
The general feeling during the workshop was that there was a lack of legislation and resource support in the country to complement the existing Social Services Act, which is criticised, at times putting a burden on the elderly.
“Although we have some schemes for OVCs and the elderly, there is little appreciation of the fact that the elderly are the carers of millions of orphaned children. It should be noted that lack of access to education and illiteracy due to historical factors makes most of them unable to articulate and demand their rights as senior citizens resulting in them losing their property hence the need for Government intervention,” said Mrs Gavi.
She said HelpAge was trying to include a number of programmes like nutritional gardens and projects in their activities to assist capacitate the elderly.
“We hope the Government will develop social security systems to ensure inter-generational equity and promotion of self reliance and creation of opportunities and participation of the elderly on national consultative issues.
“The media should as well use international conventions to pressurise the Government to expedite policy making on the elderly,” she said.
Dr Tavengwa Nhongo, the regional director for Africa Platform for Social Protection, said it was important for Governments to define the official elderly age because a lot of elderly people were being left out of policies because of their appearance.
He said it was misleading to say the population of the elderly was decreasing because of HIV and Aids as the numbers increase annually.
“Social protection is important to provide social assistance, insurance and labour market interventions for the elderly. The problem is that in most countries the programmes have come from the top and not demanded by the communities on the ground, which makes it critical for stakeholders to convene and make noise about,” said Dr Nhongo.
The regional advocacy and communications manager of HelpAge International, Dr Douglas Lackey, said between 40 and 60 percent of OVCs were being cared for by the elderly yet they were being excluded from the major policies of social assistance.
He challenged Sadc countries to integrate international conventions to local programming so as to assist the elderly.
Responding to questions, the principal director in the Ministry of Labour and Social Services, which is mandated to provide for the vulnerable groups in the country, Mr Sydney Mhishi, said the Old People’s Bill had passed Cabinet stage and was waiting to be tabled in parliament.
Mr Mhishi said the Bill, which sought to provide protection for the elderly with regards to social services and access to public premises like health institutions, would bring relief to senior citizens and help improve the economic base of families headed by elderly people.
Elderly people are at the moment getting an allowance of $20 per month as pension, which Mr Mhishi said should not be viewed in terms of the monetary value but in the context of what social protection is.
He said though little, the allowance had improved livelihoods in a number of households that had disintegrated because of lack of financial base.
Online Reporter