According to a report by the committee probing abuse of the elderly, an estimated 80% of the elderly have no income other than their social pension, with about 2-million people receiving pensions from the state.

Called "Mothers and fathers of the nation: the forgotten people", the report describes the lack of service delivery to the elderly as "a crisis" and abuse of the elderly as "the best kept secret of modern times".

It tells of homes for the elderly that stink of urine and where residents share clothes, facecloths and toothbrushes; how the elderly in state homes receive R3 "pocket money" a month, or nothing; how some living on their own are dying from malnutrition and neglect; and how those in institutions are given sub-standard food.

The issue of social security, which has been the subject of the two commissions, in 1996 and 1998, with little achieved, receives the most coverage.

"In the course of its investigations, this committee collected a large amount of evidence of the cruelty which many elderly people experience....the loudest cry to reach the committee concerned the treatment pensioners receive at pension paypoints."

The report said some pensioners refer to pension day as "the worst day of my life"- the day when they queue for hours to receive their meager R540, only to be plagued by loan sharks and family members.

It describes the present payment system, which sometimes sees pensioners sleeping at paypoints to avoid the queues, as "unacceptable" and recommends that it be phased out.

Some of the report’s findings are that there is still a huge disparity between services offered to white and black elderly South Africans; the elderly are increasingly having to assume responsibility for Aids orphans; they are increasingly targeted by HIV-positive rapists; admission to most registered homes depends on ability to pay additional fees, excluding those with only an old-age pension; and the high level of theft in homes.

The Johannesburg Star
Monday, March 26, 2001

Rent-a-Family

You can rent anything today - tools, vehicles, plants videos, babysitters. And now there is even Rent-a-Family. Elderly Japanese couples are lining up for this service, where a stand-in family visits for a few hours and acts like "real family". Couples are paying more than $1 000 a visit for the service.

The president of the Lifestage Casting Center, which runs the service, says that most of his clients have families who rarely come to visit. During Rent-a-Family visits, elderly couples treat the actors like their own children and grandchildren. They often hand out pocket money to the "grandchildren" and berate their "children" for not visiting more often. The Center president says, "There are lots of people who feel sad because everyone is chasing money and no one pays attention to the human spirit".

"From the bottom of my heart, I felt as though they could be a real family," said Mr Suzuki, a retired doll maker who rented a family. "I know they're not my real family, but there was a real feeling of warmth."

Although Rent-a-Family may raise a smile at first, it points to a deep and disturbing problem in our relationships. You can judge the moral strength of a society by how it treats its elderly.

How is it with you and me? What kind of children have we become? Are we sensitive to the needs and feelings of our parents? Do we treat the elderly with dignity and respect? Since the family is the cornerstone of our society, we can only ignore it at our own peril.

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