Rural poor worst off in struggle to find shelter in old-age homes 
An Mthatha old-age home is overflowing as pensioners clamor to get places in it to escape abuse from their families and communities. 

Empilweni matron Nontsebenzo Bida, who has been caring for the elderly at the home for 20 years, yesterday said the increased number of pensioners seeking sanctuary was mainly because their families stole their grants, beat, raped or starved them. 

“Now elderly people are abused – some by their relatives who take their pension money and spend it on other things. 

“Others are raped, robbed, and even burnt by some communities because they are labeled as witches,” she said. 

Her view is supported by an earlier investigation ordered by Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya that found cruelty to the elderly was increasing sharply – largely at the hands of their children and their grandchildren. 

The investigation noted that those who were frail were the most vulnerable because few safe havens exist for them. 

It also said that for many, “old age is a time of fear, depression and anxiety”. 
Many were being left alone to die from malnutrition and neglect. 

Rape of elderly women was also found to be rising – both within the family and by outsiders who wrongly believed that sexual intercourse with a sexually inactive person could cure HIV/Aids. 

Visiting the home yesterday, Social Development MEC Toko Xasa said: “At Empilweni Home a high number of elderly people have been subjected to such abuse, and it is one of the reasons the place is overflowing.” 

She said it was necessary to reverse modern trends that were resulting in neglect. 

“In our society, especially the African society, elderly people were not sent to old-age homes because they were valued and taken care of at their homes, but now a new trend is emerging and we need to work towards solving the problem together.” 

An Older Persons’ Bill is currently before Parliament. 

The Bill puts in place measures to combat the abuse of the elderly in communities and in residential care facilities and to secure their safety and security. 

Skweyiya hopes it will be enacted this year. 

In March he told Parliament: “Services to older persons in this country have generally been deficient, both in terms of service delivery and allocation of resource,” he said. 

“This is particularly true of older persons living in remote rural communities, who tend to live in extreme poverty and tend to be most vulnerable.” 
Skweyiya said an extensive education campaign was also necessary to create understanding about the rights of the elderly. 

According to the provincial head of the South African Social Security Agency, Bandile Maqethuka, there are just over 400000 beneficiaries of old age pensions in the Eastern Cape. 

Empilweni is currently eight people over its capacity of 110 beds, and has 24 more people on its waiting list. 

When the home opened in 1983 it had 24 people. 

Among the residents is a 79-year-old man who recently joined the community of Empilweni, after his neighbors begged social workers to take him to the home. 

The man’s wife, decades younger than he is, would stay in the city for most of the month but come to their home near Ngqeleni on pension payout days, apparently just to collect her husband’s money. 

Afterwards she would leave for the city again, leaving him with nothing eat and entirely at the mercy of his neighbors.