Durban - While the Association for the Aged (Tafta) has welcomed an increase in the old age grant, the organisation is sounding a warning to Parliament to the growing burden of an impoverished population of elders, as increases still fail to meet their basic care needs.
During Wednesday's Budget speech, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the old age would increase from R1 890 to R1 985. This, he said, forms part of the R58.6 billion budget, which has been set aside for the Department of Social Development. He added that the department would receive the largest allocation over the medium term.
"Despite the R95 increase, we are bracing ourselves for continued demand on our services. The reality is an increasing number of older people are in need of care, protection and support," said Tafta CEO, Femada Shamam.
Shamam was speaking at a gathering of sector experts in Johannesburg, where the National Department of Social Development is in discussions to develop a National Strategy on Ageing for South Africa, aimed at improving the quality of life of the aged.
She said Tafta has been involved in the aged care sector for over 63 years and deals with the impact of these minimal increases.
"Older people are finding it increasingly impossible to meet even their most basic needs like health care and food costs. If South Africa cannot care for this population group now, how will we address the challenge of our growing ageing population – which is expected to reach around two-thirds of the global population by 2050?" Shamam added.
She warned that without policy changes and support mechanisms that address the needs of population ageing, South Africa would see a continued increase in elderly people living below the poverty line, coupled with the burden of elder care sitting with the working population as caregivers.
Shamam said at the gathering, scheduled to end this week, they are hoping to find a way to enable older people to live a life of meaning and purpose. She added that they are working on stakeholder inputs to add to the National Strategy as well an implementation plan for the Decade of Healthy Ageing.
The Older Persons Amendment Bill is also to be Gazetted for public comment and implementation, a move that Shamam sees as hopeful for the future of ageing generations in South Africa.
"The National Strategy seeks to focus on four main areas, including; empowerment, maintenance and wellbeing. They are also focusing on enabling and supporting environments and protection and advocacy.
"If we are able to position this framework to deliver on its set objectives, perhaps there is hope for future generations of the ageing population to retire in dignity in wellbeing," Shamam said.
Currently, Tafta has to meet a 64% shortfall in care costs for elders in its care, even after an elders pension contribution and the government subsidy for care services. This operational shortfall amounts to approximately R26 million due to a difficult fundraising environment and Covid-19 care costs the organisation has experienced in recent years, like others in the sector.