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Press Releases & News
| June 08, 2008 18:00 |
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Older people going hungry in our midst
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“More sensitivity required to ease their needs”
The umpteenth interest rate increase in South Africa affects older people in various ways.
Those who are lucky enough to have investments or whose home loans are paid off are smiling. On the other hand, there are thousands of older people (by far the majority) for whom the increase, along with the fuel price increases, food prices and general inflation, is absolutely devastating.
That’s according to Arnold van der Linde, Executive Chairman of the IntegriSure group.
He says that several social service organisations are already helping the new cases of people suffering.
Though all who are suffering must be helped, it’s ironic that South Africa is currently having to help people in refugee camps, while the need is just as bad, or even worse, in many South African households.
The only difference is that the South Africans who are suffering aren’t grouped together, but are spread among our communities.
Especially older people who are suffering are usually too proud to admit it. Van der Linde says that society has become less focused on the needs of other people and that we isolate ourselves behind high walls. It could thus easily happen that older people who are suffering become even poorer or go hungry without their immediate neighbours knowing about it. He says that South Africans should become more sensitive about the needs of others.
At the same time, Van der Linde says, there are many older people who are entitled to discounts, but do not make use of them. There are several organisations that specifically give discounts to older people. However, it’s the duty of these people to ask for them – not because they are poor, but because they’re entitled to them.
Van der Linde also says that older people often seem to have a sense of pride. They worked hard and responsibly for years to build a community. Now the community is giving them something back in the form of a discount for certain services and products.
He tells the story of a 77-year-old lady living on the breadline who did not know how she would survive the shock of another rise in prices. She burst into tears when she heard that she could save R300 a month on her insurance, just because she’s over 50. “The irony is that she qualified for it years ago. She never claimed her discount,” Van der Linde said.
“And older people don’t have to be suffering hardship to claim the discounts. It’s the done thing all over the world to give something back to older people in the form of discounts for their role in helping to build the community.”
There is no stigma attached to claiming what you’ve earned, Van der Linde said. There are people who only realise now that they’ve thrown away nearly R15 000 in the past three years, simply because they didn’t ask for their rightful discounts.
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