Ripping off the elderly
The elderly in Alexandra have been turned into money generating machines by unscrupulous people, businesses and also relatives.
Concerned citizens and community workers say the elderly are cheated of their pensions and grants even before they have had a chance to use their meagre income for their basic household and personal needs.
Thabo Mopasi, a social activist said this has been going on for many years with illegal money lenders waylaying them at pay points. Also relatives and children who accompany them to the pay point at the community centre take their money.
Mopasi added that the lenders lent the elderly money under the guise of assisting them when times were hard as they aren’t able to access bank loans because they are unemployed.
“The repayments are charged with exorbitant interest which causes them to default quickly, resulting in further hefty penalties which at times includes confiscation of their belongings,” he said.
“Some of the lenders even confiscate the elderly’s IDs and bank cards [and] withdraw from their bank accounts, leaving them with a zero balance.”
He added that even relatives who the grannies trust also steal from them by withdrawing more than what the grannies ask them to.
“Also, funeral parlours take advantage of their frail condition and imminent death to coerce them to register for dubious funeral policies which they can’t afford,” Mopasi added.
“Others fall victim to buying fake medicines and body rejuvenating creams from street vendors, and some heartless persons even charge for queuing for them on paydays.
“Our elderly have no peace of mind and freedom to plan and save their little income for emergencies and for their daily needs.”
He also stressed that some of the grannies had requested him to check with the South African Social Security Agency on monthly deductions made from their accounts by the agency for airtime which they hadn’t authorised nor received, but an agency official claimed ignorance of this practice.
“This practice seems widespread, and some organisations are investigating the matter and we hope for a satisfactory finding and refunding of the grannies,” he said.
One of the grannies interviewed at SanKopano Community Centre said she was lucky that her children accompanied her on paydays and deposited all her money into her account.
