Today marks 26 days since a group of more than 130 Eastern Cape pensioners, some in their 90s, abandoned the comfort of their homes to protest outside parliament in Cape Town.
Braving chilly autumn nights, they are demanding they be paid their pension and unemployment insurance fund (UIF) money, which they claim is owed to them by apartheid-era rail companies.
The group of elderly protesters has since been accommodated in a Methodist church in the city’s CBD, where they now sleep and receive medical treatment from Samaritan doctors at no cost.
They previously worked for Transnet’s predecessor, the SA Railways, and Ciskei Transport Corporation (CTC).
The group’s leader, Michael Matshaya, said the complaint dated back to the early 1990s when CTC was dissolved.
He said some members of the group include former employees of SA Transport Services, who had their services terminated in 1988 after a strike.
Matshaya said they were never paid what was due to them, including pensions and UIF.
He said about 15000 employees of the SA Railways and 850 from CTC were verbally dismissed when former president Nelson Mandela “destroyed” the railways and created the single entity, Transnet.
Matshaya said after being ignored by authorities on previous visits, they had managed to get the ear of some, who have promised to look into their plight. He claims they were “tormented” by police who forcefully removed them from the parliament precinct last week.
“We had a meeting with authorities from the labour department in East London on January 26. We were promised that our people’s UIF was to be paid within six weeks,” Matshaya said. “When that did not happen in 10 weeks, we decided to leave the comfort of our homes to come and wait here for payments,” Matshaya said.
He said the group included people from areas around East London, King William’s Town, Alice, Queenstown and Peddie.
Doris Dweba, 63, of Mdantsane, said yesterday their stay in Cape Town had been “traumatic” and had affected the health and wellbeing of some of the protesters.
Dweba, a mother of five, joined the delegation as a beneficiary of her late husband, who had worked for CTC but died in 2005.
“He died while still crying for his money,” she said.
“People are sick here, most of them have fever and asthma.
“Even Minister Lindiwe Sisulu did come to us on Thursday and told us she was embarrassed and sympathised with our plight. She then promised to engage labour department authorities in a bid to fast-track our UIF payments,” Dweba added.
Attempts to get comment from parliament and Sisulu had proved fruitless at the time of writing yesterday. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
Pensioners’ tough protest
Braving chilly autumn nights, they are demanding they be paid their pension and unemployment insurance fund (UIF) money, which they claim is owed to them by apartheid-era rail companies.
The group of elderly protesters has since been accommodated in a Methodist church in the city’s CBD, where they now sleep and receive medical treatment from Samaritan doctors at no cost.
They previously worked for Transnet’s predecessor, the SA Railways, and Ciskei Transport Corporation (CTC).
The group’s leader, Michael Matshaya, said the complaint dated back to the early 1990s when CTC was dissolved.
He said some members of the group include former employees of SA Transport Services, who had their services terminated in 1988 after a strike.
Matshaya said they were never paid what was due to them, including pensions and UIF.
He said about 15000 employees of the SA Railways and 850 from CTC were verbally dismissed when former president Nelson Mandela “destroyed” the railways and created the single entity, Transnet.
Matshaya said after being ignored by authorities on previous visits, they had managed to get the ear of some, who have promised to look into their plight. He claims they were “tormented” by police who forcefully removed them from the parliament precinct last week.
“We had a meeting with authorities from the labour department in East London on January 26. We were promised that our people’s UIF was to be paid within six weeks,” Matshaya said. “When that did not happen in 10 weeks, we decided to leave the comfort of our homes to come and wait here for payments,” Matshaya said.
He said the group included people from areas around East London, King William’s Town, Alice, Queenstown and Peddie.
Doris Dweba, 63, of Mdantsane, said yesterday their stay in Cape Town had been “traumatic” and had affected the health and wellbeing of some of the protesters.
Dweba, a mother of five, joined the delegation as a beneficiary of her late husband, who had worked for CTC but died in 2005.
“He died while still crying for his money,” she said.
“People are sick here, most of them have fever and asthma.
“Even Minister Lindiwe Sisulu did come to us on Thursday and told us she was embarrassed and sympathised with our plight. She then promised to engage labour department authorities in a bid to fast-track our UIF payments,” Dweba added.
Attempts to get comment from parliament and Sisulu had proved fruitless at the time of writing yesterday. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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