Covid-19: The elderly suffer the most.

27 May 2020
Sefikile Village
Moses Kotane
Christinah Mogobye

I am still concerned now that we are approaching another month. Our old citizens are badly affected and their health is also being put at risk. They worry too much on how they will handle yet another queuing at a time like this.

In many parts of the country, many gather in large groups with zero distancing while one of the safety precautions to fight the spread of this virus is social distancing. I have realised that the elderly and people living with disabilities are at high risk as they queue for long and their health conditions are n’t considered.

They queue for their grant pay outs and also face more queue long queues to do their shopping after receiving their grants, what do we do as the community? My parents are pensioners but fortunately I receive those grants on their behalf but what about those who have no one to help them? Some their children are not staying with them and some stay with grandkids who are way too young to receive grants on their behalf.

Last month when I was doing shopping I was touched by one elderly woman who decided to go back home without making it to the front queue and her blood pressure rose. Imagine waking up at 5am and queuing for 8 hours or more, others are hungry and others need to take their medication.

I wish the ministers could do something about this issue, maybe hire more cashiers during month end otherwise we will lose our old citizens and we need them in our homes and in our community.