EMJINDINI – The provincial MEC for social development, Candith Mashego-Dlamini, has condemned community members who accuse elderly people of practising witchcraft.
Mashego-Dlamini, who was speaking at Emjindini Stadium on December 2, further disapproved of parents who left their children for the elderly to raise.
The convention was part of the department of social development’s outreach programme to celebrate 20 years of freedom.
More than 1 000 elderly people from around Umjindi and some parts of Ehlanzeni had the opportunity to have lunch with Mashego-Dlamini.
The aim was to support, communicate, appreciate, consult, share information with and improve their quality of life by creating formal structures through which their interests would be catered for.
“As we get older, our body features change. As a result, many elderly people are being accused of being witches and are being punished because of their appearance,” she said.
She encouraged them to establish small committees which they could use as platforms to discuss issues that affected them in their households.
“As government, we can’t go into each and every house and investigate how you are being treated. Social workers are always there to assist,” she said.
Mashego-Dlamini said statistics had shown that many elderly people were abused by their grandchildren, who were addicted either to drugs or liquor.
“Most of them are unemployed. To get money to feed their habits, they have to strangle you.
“Nowadays, there is this drug called nyaope. Once they want it, they ransack the whole house looking for something to steal to go and sell to pay for the drugs.”
She said as a government, they had not forgotten the elderly as they were important to the country and communities.
But they had no strength to stop their grandchildren from abusing them as they couldn’t speak out.
Mashego-Dlamini also called on parents who abandoned their children. “The elderly raised you. It is not their burden to raise your child.
“The meagre social-grant money we give them is for them to spend on their own needs. Even if they get this grant, you should contribute something,” she concluded.
For many it was a day they would never forget.
They were supplied with breakfast packs and lunch boxes. Later, the MEC assisted by the Umjindi executive mayor, gave each one a blanket.
