Arthur Pillay, founder, Ageing Gracefully Seniors
Ageing Gracefully was founded in 2022, as there was a dire need for representation of our marginalised seniors.
It is true that one has to think and talk about the future, which would include our youth, as change would come from them. But as history would record, there can be no future without a present or past.
Mitchell’s Plain was built and established in the late 1970s, when the rent was a steep R100 per month. This reminds me of when we were evicted from District Six and had to move to Gatesville in 1972.
Our rent increased from R15pm to R100pm, which was a huge adjustment for my parents. The move to Mitchell’s Plain by young couples was just about affordable, and we had to adjust accordingly, or cut our garment according to our cloth as the saying goes.
Mitchell’s Plain was a diversified settler’s home, as people from different backgrounds, cultures and religions were all thrown together. This was good for our children growing up in a nice safe and clean environment.
Today, our seniors who were the pioneers of Mitchell’s Plain, feel as if they have been put out to pasture in the grazing lands (and for the record, there aren’t any more grazing land left).
Almost 48 years later those pioneers became today’s seniors, and are struggling for survival due to the economic crisis (not only in Mitchell’s Plain) but in the whole of South Africa. Our seniors moved into small council houses, where a bed with a large headboard could only fit one way, or the pedestals had to be cut off. However, we limped along.
In my observation, almost every second house was renovated due to space and convenience as the family numbers increased. Many took pride in their homes and expanded the architecture, and the rest still have the same paint on the walls of 48 years ago.
Many changes took place over the years. Businesses thrived, while the people were trying to make ends meet. Drug lords are still fighting for turf of the drug trade.
In the past, one death by killing would be talked about for months. Today there’s a death by killing almost every day.
Food prices and petrol have sky-rocketed, which affects the seniors worse than the working class. We are subjected to these regular increases with little or no concession.
We also own cars, and many of us fend for ourselves on that measly SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) old age pension, while the rich parliamentarians enjoy annual increases to their fat pay cheque, housing subsidy, petrol and phone allowances, and many other perks.
Unemployment among the youth and school leavers affects our seniors. Many of them abuse their parents and grandparents, physically, mentally and/or financially. We have become the soft targets.
When the state’s budget is presented in Parliament and the pie is cut to indicate who gets the biggest and smallest, it is always the seniors who are marginalised, and left with the crumbs.
I am a 72-year-old senior, if you should ask me what a living wage for a senior should be, I wouldn’t be able to tell you as all seniors’ needs are different. So how in heaven’s name can a young parliamentarian decide for us, what a living wage should be?
In 2022, Ageing Gracefully Seniors was birthed and became operable in 2023, with the main focus being on seniors who do not belong to senior clubs, the wheel-chair bound, bed-ridden paraplegics and those looking after their grandchildren while their mothers are at work. We also have a special interest in unemployed people under 60 years.
An advice office is on the cards, which would require assistance with and fast-tracking of cases of abuse of all forms, wills, burial plans and affordable policies, advice for renting and selling property.
Ageing Gracefully is in collaboration with SASSA, the Department of Social Development, the police, the community police forum, SAPS, the Community Health Committee and in contact with Age-in-Action.
Negotiations are under way for special discounts during the week of SASSA pay-outs with various businesses. I am hoping that businesses in Mitchell’s Plain display some empathy for our seniors.
While the working class is at work, our seniors are out there shopping and keeping the huge food chains afloat.
We appeal to Liberty Life Promenade who has promised to plough back into the community, to make good on their promise.
We are not looking for handouts, but rather specials and discounts on that one day when we receive our “millions”.
We are organising our annual year-end lunch and a sport’s day in Mitchell’s Plain. Trips, excursions and many other fund-raisers will also be arranged.
We call upon our civic leaders and ward councillors to support Ageing Gracefully, instead of a handful of selected seniors.
If you think you could make a difference to ensure each senior gets to enjoy a good quality of life, come join our steering committee by calling me on 073 755 5122 or email arthurpillay@yahoo.com
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