SOUTH AFRICA HAS AN AGEING POPULATION THAT MUST ALWAYS BE PROTECTED, EMPOWERED AND VALUED, SAYS KZN LEGISLATURE DEPUTY SPEAKER
MEDIA STATEMENT
2 October 2025
SOUTH AFRICA HAS AN AGEING POPULATION THAT MUST ALWAYS BE PROTECTED, EMPOWERED AND VALUED, SAYS KZN LEGISLATURE DEPUTY SPEAKER
South Africa has an ageing population which requires better coordinated efforts towards strengthening the capacity of senior citizens to play a more meaningful role in society, KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Deputy Speaker Honourable Mmabatho Tembe said today.
She was speaking during the handover of gardening implements, seeds and seedlings to Imizamo Yabadala Senior Citizens Club, a non-profit organisation comprising of more than 50 senior citizens in Umdoni Municipality. The ceremony took place on the sidelines of the Senior Citizens Parliament currently taking place in Umzinto Town Hall today.
Tembe said that demography gave an awareness of the fact that the number of people aged 60 and over would double by 2050, and the proportion of the population aged above 60 will rise from about 9.8% in 2022 to 15.4% by 2050.
“These trends tell us that our elderly South Africans will face vulnerabilities such as poverty, food insecurity if we don’t start implementing programmes and policies aimed at ensuring that they are protected and valued. That is why the legislature will continue having social responsibility programmes like the one we have today,” added Tembe.
She said that it was important for senior citizens to be empowered because they face financial hardship as they share their small income with their intergenerational households, adding that some had become primary care givers for orphaned grandchildren due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The Deputy Chairperson of Imizamo Yabadala Senior Citizens Club, Mr Khalesakhe Gumede, said that the donation from the legislature would assist their organisation to produce vegetables to feed their families.
“Empowerment and donations enable us to continue being actively involved in passing on society’s knowledge, values and norms from generation to generation. With all our contemporary challenges, young people still look up to us as the repositories of tradition, culture, knowledge and skills. With what we have received today, we will also teach our grandchildren how to farm,” said Mr Gumede.
ISSUED BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPEAKER
For enquiries: Mr Bongani Tembe
