Tafta questions 5% elder grant increase following Budget Speech

THIS week, The Association for the Aged (Tafta) sounded alarm bells, calling for parliament to address the growing population of impoverished elders in South Africa.

This as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced a 5%  increase in old age grants during his Budget Speech on Wednesday, February 23.

While the association welcomed the increase, Tafta CEO Femada Shamam questioned how far it would go.

“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,” she said.

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According to Shamam, there is a 64% shortfall that Tafta covers after pension and government subsidies come in. “This operational shortfall amounts to approximately R26m due to a difficult fundraising environment and Covid-19 care costs the organisation has experienced in recent years,” she said.

Shamam said Tafta has been dealing with the impact of these minimal grant increases for 63 years, since the association’s inception.

“Older people are finding it impossible to meet even their most basic needs like health care and food costs,” she said, “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?”

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Shamam was speaking at a gathering of sector experts in Johannesburg, where the National Department of Social Development was discussing a National Strategy on Ageing for South Africa.

The Older Persons Amendment Bill is also to be Gazetted for public comment and implementation, a move that Shamam welcomes.

“The National Strategy seeks to focus on four main areas, including empowerment; maintenance and wellbeing; 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 with dignity,” she said.  

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