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"THE BEST FOR THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR BEST"

Honoured Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Our hosts of the Soweto Home for the Aged

Greetings to you and all older people of this country. We have come here today to honour those like you who have given the best years of their lives for this country, its people, its families and communities. You have spent years caring, guiding, helping, advising, listening and giving of your time, knowledge and wisdom to the generations that have followed you. For that we owe you a great debt.

Our history has been made richer by so many great South Africans who have shown that there is no age limit to what an individual can contribute to society: Our President Nelson Mandela, Albertina and Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Mama Adelaide Tambo, musicians like Miriam Makeba, Jonas Gwangwa and Abdullah Ibrahim, writers like Nadine Gordimer and Eskia Mphahlele, academics like Fatima Meer and Ben Turok, lawyers such as George Bizos and Duma Nokwe, sports people such as Steve Kalamazoo Mokone, Hassen Howa, Jake Ntuli, Elijah "Tap Tap" Makhatini and many others.

They have proved that growing old is a natural phase of life and that it should be a time when you can continue to play a full and active part in the affairs of your community and your society. There are many others who could play such a role if they were given the opportunity and the support from our society. You are doing it and others like you must be enabled to do it. That is what we must pledge to do - ensure that there are opportunities, that you are supported and that the environment is created for you to live out your potential no matter what your age is.

The International Year of Older Persons which we will celebrate next year in 1999 is an opportunity for us to highlight the value, dignity and rights of older persons, to show what they are capable of, to ensure that our society can draw on their wisdom and expertise and that young and old can build the future together. That is what we mean by the theme "Towards A Society for All Ages".

The International Year of Older Persons was declared by the United Nations and will be celebrated throughout the world. This shows us that the challenges we face are not unique to this country. For South Africa, it will be the first time that a government officially celebrates the International Year of Older Persons because the previous government was isolated from such international platforms and events. I would like to call on all our organisations, our civics, our religious sector, our women's groups, youth organisations, the business community and trade unions to observe the year and build a society for all ages.

Other countries of the world have adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Older Persons. In the course of 1999 our Parliament too will adopt this charter of rights for our older people. It is a document which spells out the rights of older persons to independence, participation, care and self-fulfilment. These are the rights which are embodied in the Bill of Rights of our new Constitution.

We know that society at the moment puts many obstacles in the way of older people. Our society has enforced an age limit which means that at a certain age you are no longer of value to society. Increasingly older people have also become targets of criminal attacks, but even worse, older people are abused within their own homes by their own families - the families they have helped to build and strengthen.

Last month our first democratically elected Parliament passed a law which will make such abuse of older persons a crime. This law is the Aged Persons Amendment Act. It will also deal with those institutions which still discriminate when people want to enter old age homes. The law will also ensure that the residents of homes such as this one can participate fully in the affairs of the institution.

This law is part of the environment that the government is creating to promote a new awareness of the dignity, value and rights of older persons. Another part of this new environment is to replace the racially based policies of the past. These policies benefited a minority of the population and were based on an approach to older persons which caused more harm rather than good. So for example the majority of old age homes are in Gauteng and the Western Cape, while older people are spread throughout the country.

The recent census results give an interesting picture of the spread of people older than 60 in each of the nine provinces.
In the Eastern Cape, 8,5% of people in that province are older than 60
Western Cape 7,7% of people in that province are older than 60
Northern Cape - 7,6% of people in that province are older than 60
Northern Province - 7,2% of people in that province are older than 60
Free State - 6,9% of people in that province are older than 60
North West - 6,7% of people in that province are older than 60
KwaZulu Natal - 6,7% of people in that province are older than 60
Gauteng - 6,3% of people in that province are older than 60
Mpumalanga - 5,9% of people in that province are older than 60

Of the total South African population, 7% of people are older than 60, and it is generally accepted that this percentage will increase in the next century. Poorer provinces are above the national figure of 7% with the Eastern Cape at 8,5% and the Northern Province at 7,2%.

Compare this with where we have old age facilities. Gauteng (second lowest above) has more facilities than any other province (249), followed by the Western Cape (186). The Eastern Cape only has 61 facilities and the Northern Province has only 9 facilities.

Ladies and gentlemen
The new approach we want to adopt is that ageing is a natural part of our lives. Older people must be allowed to age as part of our families and our communities - and not isolated in institutions - unless they are very sickly and need specialised care. The answer is not to build more such institutions - they are very expensive to maintain and they do not enhance the participation of older persons in community life.

In fact there are only about 589 old age homes accommodating about 34 000 older persons, when there are about 3 million people older than 60 in South Africa. The challenge is to develop services and programmes that reach out to those persons who are scattered in the furthest corners of our country.

The policy of our democratic government seeks to do just this. The new policy aims to transform these institutions into assets which can benefit the entire community and all age groups in that community. It will address the lack of services for older people in the rural areas by promoting community based models of care. It will promote the participation of older persons in communities through enabling society to use their expertise and skills.

South Africa is a country which has inherited huge backlogs in many areas and which has limited financial resources. Already about 51% of the total welfare budget in 1997/98 went to caring for the aged, amounting to R8,2-billion. We cannot afford to waste the skills and knowledge of our older people. They are a valuable resource.

In 1999 we must ensure that our ageing policy becomes a reality for older people - so that they and their communities can benefit. We must stop viewing older persons as a burden but rather as an asset. We must stop thinking of old age in terms of dependency, such as being dependent on an old age pension. Older people can remain economically active and government will support such initiatives through its poverty alleviation programmes. But in the longer term we must instill among our youth the habit of preparing financially for old age where it is possible.

In many poor families, older women are the primary care givers, looking after grandchildren and great-grandchildren. With the growing spread of HIV and AIDS, it is often the older grandparent who will be looking after children in families affected by this sexually transmitted disease. Another aspect of HIV and AIDS is that our older population will grow larger than it is at the moment, as the younger sexually and economically active part of our population is affected by the disease. We must have programmes aimed at preparing older people particularly for the pressures they will face as care-givers.

These are some of the challenges we will face, not only in 1999 but in the years to come. The International Year of Older Persons will be an important starting point for us to address these challenges in a sustainable way by creating the environment for a positive approach to ageing.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the umbrella organisation which will be leading the country in our celebration of the International Year of Older Persons. The organisation is called Older Persons South Africa - OPSA for short. It represents many organisations in the field of ageing, religious organisations, government departments, women's groups, as well as individuals such as Mama Tambo. With us is the chairperson of OPSA the Rev Desmond Lambrecht. I urge you all - the whole country - to rally behind the work of OPSA to ensure that it begins to meet the needs and aspirations of South Africa's older people.

Older persons have given us the best of years of their lives. We must give them the best in return.

Let us value, respect and honour all older persons. Let us build a society for all ages.

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