Investing in an ageing society in Zimbabwe

June 7, 2009 by Memory Dete ·
Filed under: Family, Friendship, Community, I was just thinking 

IT IS UNDISPUTABLE THAT the value of older persons for society is strong and society should rely increasingly on the strong social experience and wisdom of older persons. It is true that the social clock never stops ticking and therefore aging is a natural process. Of paramount importance in Zimbabwe, are the issues affecting old people, their plight and creating an enabling environment through which family members are positioned to provide more for older people. In traditional Zimbabwean culture, elderly care was provided by adult children, who gave all the care and support to their ageing and frail parents, but due to economic hardships, this may not always be possible. During recent years Zimbabwe has faced acute economic challenges which have caused societal shifts in living arrangements and family structures and therefore ageing poses a challenge in Zimbabwe.

It has often been emphasized that the issues regarding older persons worldwide are of paramount importance and various discussions and action has been taken to discuss the challenges and opportunities of ageing on a global scale. For instance, an event of major international significance took place in Madrid in April of 2002, representative of 159 countries as they gathered at the Second World Assembly on Ageing, to share ideas and to design policy solutions for the world’s ageing population. This article therefore contributes to the ongoing debate to better assess the situation of older persons in the Zimbabwean perspective and it is our sincere hope that it will bring to light the issues of ageing, to gain more attention.

Although traditionally family members provided most of the long term care of older persons, several factors have contributed to increase the strain on care-giving for the elderly members of society. Previously in Zimbabwe, families always looked after the elderly due to the fact that traditionally Zimbabwe has maintained strong families values and people tended to live in extended family households. In this regard, the well being and welfare of older people in Zimbabwe was traditionally upon their children and it was previously unheard of for older persons to live entirely alone, with infrequent visits from their children and with no family around to help them. However, due to the changes in the living conditions of older persons, generally in Zimbabwe, older persons are often left to live alone and are disadvantaged because the well-being of older persons in Zimbabwe has been affected by a range of factors, many characterized by changing family dynamics, traditional family support, poverty, material deprivation, ill health and marginalization.

In recent years things have changed fast with the break down of the extended family system in Zimbabwe and the AIDS pandemic,  has erased the norm that older people would be looked after by their children or by their relatives. Increasing older persons care for their children suffering from AIDS and grandchildren, who have been affected by AIDS, therefore support of older persons by their offspring has appeared to be wanting for such reasons as the following:
• It is believed that the number of older persons is fast eclipsing that of the youth – due to the AIDS pandemic, which has wrecked havoc in world societies.
• The emergence of the nuclear family as opposed to the traditional extended family
• Rising divorce rates amongst couples, who are the care-givers of older persons
• Traditionally women have care-giving responsibilities and many educated women have entered the work force and no one is left to look after the older persons
• Migration to other countries, for instance the advent of the Diaspora in Zimbabwe
• Urbanization, as more young people leave the confines of the rural areas for urban areas, where they can find better opportunities.
• Differing concepts of age: people in Africa may reach “old age” before actually reaching the chronological age of 60 years.
Due to these cited reasons, today in Zimbabwe, many older people are among the poorest and are often abandoned, isolated, abused and subjugated by those upon which they depend upon for their livelihood. A classic example to demonstrate this, is a Shona television drama series, which was aired on ZTV during the early nineties, which is called “Ndabvezera”, which is written by one of Zimbabwe’s most prolific authors, and film-producer, Aaron Chiundura-Moyo.

Many elderly homes in Zimbabwe were conceived as a practical tool to assist older persons, a move that the founders recognized as an important and practically significant contribution to society and to address those challenges, the homes adopt a wide range of objectives, bearing in mind that ageing remains at the heart of every society, regardless of its social and economic state of development. Many of the homes have as their objectives the following:
• Empowerment of older persons and their potential as human beings
• Public recognition of opportunities and challenges of ageing in Zimbabwe
• Helping older persons to participate in society as a whole, regardless of their age. Elderly homes also realize that dealing with ageing matters such as care-giving, provision of adequate healthcare and so forth can hardly be done without finance capital and building the infrastructural capacity to implement. Their capacity to address ageing challenges, hinges on the following:
• Institutional infrastructure such as provision of housing for older people
• Qualified staff who have the ability and skills to tacked ageing issues effectively are essential and the requirements of such cadres of professionals are much
• Equally important is the mobilization adequate financial resources to implement age-related programmes and care-giving
• Information gathering related to older persons as lack of relevant information may present obstacles in decision-making in ageing matters.
RECENTLY THE BBC NEWS featured on its Talking Point, a debate on their website titled Old people in Africa: a forgotten treasure? In this debate, it was highlighted that Old people on the continent traditionally held positions of authority but they are increasingly marginalised. The only African country to have a comprehensive policy on ageing is the island of Mauritius but however, a few other countries are working on ageing policies. Comments emanating from this debate were varied and we quote two of the comments highlighted:
1. “The aged in Africa enjoy the highest level of social inclusion compared to the west. The concept of nursing homes is so thin in most African countries. The concept of health is wider than the mere absence of disease. Of course in the absence of Government’s social security systems, poverty remains a “trip” from young age to old age. Poverty is not just the lack of money but a series of facets: vulnerability, lack of opportunities, historical perspectives and more recently prescriptive SAPs and unfair competition as a result of economic globalisation.” Charles Chingwalu, Malawi

2. “There is no gainsaying the fact that old people are still being given pride of place in Africa. We do not need a hypocritical law or a wasteful, ineffective policy to take care of our parents. If there is any group of peoples that do take care of their old parents I think it is the Africans. They still remain our shining light.”Emmanuel Igene, United States

3. “In the past, age played an important role in decision making when no one questioned anything said by an elder; but with time and awareness, we realised that this group of the population are too conservative and hinder some progress as long as they do not know and would not want to be educated about it. Now, the world is very advanced and this population must not play an old-fashioned role in today’s development, which should be given to the young and enterprising population. This will be done by addressing the problem of youth unemployment to better build the future. “ Saidou Drammeh, Gambian in USA

WHILE SOCIAL GOALS STIPULATE that older persons must benefit from protection and social welfare, it is an open question, how often Governments, faced with competing priorities and resources constraints, are willing to commit themselves to treating older persons as valued members of society, who possess a full range of social rights. The general assumption is that Governments are responsible for addressing the challenges and opportunities of ageing, but in reality, as already highlighted, Governments in Africa have other more pressings issues that take priority, including economic development, concerns over AIDS and youth employment. Having a lot of national responsibilities Governments therefore often do not get down to dealing with this issue and as a result, the vulnerable older persons in society remain invisible to society and lack the help that should be accorded to them. However, this does not rule out the fact that older persons; priorities could and should be linked with the priorities of national development, but often this is not the case as older persons are relegated to second-class status.

This is because, apart from its welfare dimensions, social protection for older persons can be seen in the context of human rights. The right to social security has been recognized globally as a fundamental societal right, to which every person is entitled to, whether young or old, such as in Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and in Article 9 of the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Madrid International Plan of Action for Ageing, which I mentioned at the beginning of the documentary, is however, not legally binding on member states and no mandatory procedure to monitor its implementation exists but much depends merely on the willingness of Governments to undertake timely and concrete national actions on ageing.

However, it is agreed in most social quarters that there is need to give older persons a voice of their own, because their message is not always heard by society. In many countries the empowerment of older persons as well as positive images of ageing, are advocated and the situation regarding ageing is not entirely bleak for Zimbabwe as the country has made some in-roads in looking after the aged and continues to seek ways of improving the living conditions of the aged and there are a number of old people’s homes that have been established across Zimbabwe, such as the Dorothy Duncan Centre for the Aged in Harare, Chengetayi Old People’s Home in Chinhoyi, Bumhudzo Old People’s home in, Batanai Old Age Home in Gweru, just to mention a few. A non-governmental organization, Help-Age Zimbabwe, has also made tremendous efforts and strides at creating awareness on issues facing older people in society and also for engaging in various programmes that seek to improve the lives of older people in Zimbabwe

Making the decision to source outside help for caring for an elderly loved one is difficult, but however, costs are very important in investing in ageing and social protection for older persons, and financial considerations cannot be overruled. Elderly homes therefore have a vital stake in achieving financial stability and sustainability, as well as ensuring that its organizational objectives continue to be delivered for posterity. Countries are also urged to give high priority to ageing issues and it is noted that one positive feature is a growing awareness of the various dimensions of ageing as well as appreciation of the fact that older persons in society are more vulnerable in society and the United Nations, the African Union and Non-Governmental Organizations, have tried to alert African governments to ageing issues, in particular, their omission from mainstreaming development thinking.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Investing in an ageing society in Zimbabwe”

  1. Tonderai Moyo on June 9th, 2009 10:22 am

    Well researched article Memory. It just reminded me of someone who said society in Zimbabwe- and I suppose, elsewhere in the world- does not care how old you are anymore. All they care for is how much money you have, how big your house is, how tight your car is. Those are the things which seem garner respect these days. Whether that respect is real of imagined is another issue. There is even a saying at funerals and other family gatherings that: “Ane mari ndiye mukuru.” Meaning, the person with the money is “the oldest” and thus has the right to call the shots.

  2. Memory Dete on June 9th, 2009 2:46 pm

    Thank you very much for your comment Tonderai. How true that nowadays age is of no consequence but only “mari yako”. But then if the tables turn and one suddenly loses their money, then one will experience that most of the people who once “respected” you will dissappear into thin air.

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