Union joins fight for seniors

Dorianne Arendse

Trade union Cosatu has vowed to continue with its monthly outings for senior citizens over the age of 60, this despite the fact that their funding for the free trains has been taken away by Provincial Government. On Tuesday morning 3000 pensioners made use of the free trains provided by Cosatu to for their monthly outing.Speaking to VOC News the spokesman for Cosatu in the Western Cape Tony Ehrenreich said the event was to be funded by provincial government.

"Helen Zille pulled the plug, essentially sabotaging the opportunities of working class citizens to go out an enjoy the sites of the Western Cape, as well as being able to enjoy the sites, as well as just able to spend some time out of the impoverished communities they come from. It is really a sad when the Democratic Alliance refuses to honour the agreement of government in respect of poorer communities and their senior citizens," Ehrenreich said.

He said the funding for the pensioners event was agreed to by the provincial government under the leadership of then Premier Lynn Brown. "This agreement had to be honoured by the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, who has just withdrawn the agreement and questioned its status. The matters have been repeatedly raised with Premier Helen Zille but she has shown no regard for the plight of senior citizens from working class communities. This just again reaffirms what I think is the ambit of the DA in regard to the poorer communities," he said.

Free trains

According to Ehrenreich the free trains cost a minimal amount of R2000 a month to make it possible for senior citizens to get out and spend some time in the beauty of the Western Cape. "The government has refused to honour the bill and so Cosatu is going to have to have to in conjunction with the senior citizens find someone else to foot the bills until we take the provincial government to court and force the government to honour the agreement," said Ehrenreich.

In a previous interview with VOC News the Provincial department of Social Development said it was forced to redistribute the funds to old age homes in the province, which are faced with financial problems. In February, the department announced it would be cutting the funding to Non Profit Organisations (NPO's) and Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's), due to a major reduction in its overall budget allocation from the national government. Monies have been reallocated based on the quality of services delivered at each specific organization.