Media statement
Helping Hand
16 February 2010
Solidarity Helping Hand calls on Zuma to stop discrimination against poor whites
President Jacob Zuma announced during his State of the Nation Address on Thursday evening that the poor will be protected against rising electricity tariffs. However, according to Dr Danie Langner, Executive Director of Solidarity Helping Hand, this relief is not available to poor whites in Pretoria. There is blatant discrimination, as the electricity bills of institutions like Zanempilo Home Based Care in Atteridgeville and the Meadowlands Home for the Aged are partially and fully subsidised, respectively. But promises made to residents of a care facility for the elderly in Hermanstad and an informal settlement in Pretoria West have remained empty.
The water and electricity bill of the Zanempilo centre is subsidised in full. The centre’s offices are situated on the premises of the Tshwane Metro Council. The Meadowlands Old Age Home, located in a traditionally black residential area, only pay R2 000 of their electricity bill which usually amounts to more than R11 000.
Nothing has come of Zuma’s promises to the residents of a care facility for the elderly in Hermanstad and an informal settlement in Pretoria West. These and other promises were made in 2008 during a visit to white squatter camps. The Mayor of the Tshwane Municipality, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, and the then Minister of Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, accompanied Zuma on the visit.
As far back as 2008, Zuma promised the residents of Uncle Ben’s Den, a care facility in Hermanstad that looks after some 140 underprivileged elderly people, that the state will subsidise their electricity to a large extent, thereby ensuring the equal treatment of all underprivileged people. However, the President’s promise has not been fulfilled and Uncle Ben’s still have to pay their electricity bills. They are unable to pay the latest electricity bill of R25 000 and have approached Helping Hand for assistance.
“Uncle Ben’s Den looks after needy elderly people, people with disabilities and homeless people and does not receive a government subsidy. The centre is struggling to keep its head above water. To make things worse, Zuma makes empty promises about giving underprivileged blacks and whites in South Africa equal treatment,” explains Dr Langner.
Promises to lay on electricity for the 48 residents of Betlehem, an informal settlement in Pretoria West, have also been unfulfilled to date. “We make an urgent plea to Zuma to ensure that these poor whites are not left to their fate and receive the relief promised to them,” says Dr Langner.
Dr Danie Langner
Executive Director: Solidarity Helping Hand
084 257 9164
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