adminlaw. It is disturbing to learn that Zimbabwe was the first country in Sadc to work towards developing a policy for older persons by formulating the legislation in 2002 and nine years down the line, the Bill still has not been passed into an Act of Parliament.
However, there may now be a ray of hope that the legislators will debate the Bill since it has been through Cabinet. Zimbabwe should not lag behind in protecting its older citizens. We, therefore urge the Minister of Labour and Social Services Paurina Mupariwa to vigorously push the Bill to Parliament.
The Bill, among other things, seeks to establish an older persons’ fund for the care and protection of the elderly. It also calls for the provision of grants, cash transfers or vouchers for the upkeep of the elderly as well as seeking to make older people lead independent and dignified lives.
There is no doubt that the Government has been working tirelessly to ensure that the rights of the aged are properly constituted and guaranteed.
After years of toiling on the farms, labouring in the mines and working long hours in private homes, the majority of Zimbabwean workers retire to a life of poverty. With the harsh economic climate which threatens the continued existence of the traditional extended family, more elderly Zimbabweans find themselves destitute and sometimes out in the streets.
It is also sad that grandmothers in their 60s are now increasingly assuming the role of parents for the growing population of HIV and Aids orphans.
According to the Zimbabwe Human Development Report 2003, the increase in home-based and orphans care due to Aids related death places an enormous burden on the elderly especially women.
The elderly find themselves doing care work under extreme conditions of poverty, stigma, lack of support and abuse. Older people make up a significant population in our communities and form the heart of cultural inheritance as they have the duty to pass cultures to next generations while upholding social values.
But the irony of the situation is that old people, instead of spending the twilight years under the care of their children, are being left with the burden of looking after orphans without any source of income. There is now a sad trend among some urban dwellers who are now in the habit of dumping their old parents at old people’s homes because they cannot take care of them.
This is unAfrican and should not be encouraged.
It is also in this context that we commended the Harare City Council when in 2006 it resolved to cut by half refuse collection, sewerage and supplementary charges for pensioners and senior citizens.
The move followed a survey in 2005 as a result of intense lobbying by the pensioners and senior residents during budget consultative meetings. Harare City Council was not the first to give preferential treatment to its senior citizens.
There are also other organisations like supermarkets that give discounts on goods bought by the elderly. Zupco exempts senior citizens from paying fares on its buses. When boarding buses either within cities or those plying the inter-city routes and rural areas, senior citizens are required to produce their identity cards or passports to show proof of their ages.
Government hospitals – Parirenyatwa and Harare Central – have been offering free treatment to the elderly and children for some time.
All this is meant to cushion the elderly from the ever-increasing medical and transport costs. We commend all those who help the elderly in one way or another. As we have pointed out, in Zimbabwean society to this day expects the elderly especially peasant farmers to be supported by their families, for other self-employed people to cope with their own and family resources, and makes no provision for farm and mine workers and domestic workers too old to work.
As many families themselves are in total poverty, the net result is that many elderly people are living in abject poverty and many of those, especially the elderly in their seventies and eighties, cannot work even if they wished to carry on.
They face ever growing medical bills, and we need to remember that old age is not that bad a condition if there is access to modern medicine.
It is sad to note that the population of older people is increasing at a dramatic rate. Reports say by 2050, the number of the world’s elderly will reach two billion up from the 1950 figure of 200 million.
An enabling legislation will enable our country to recognise and respect the roles the older men and women have played and are still playing in shaping the country. It will be the duty of all the Members of Parliament to support this Bill when it is tabled in the august House.
Online Reporter