Mission to supply Zim pensioners

When Hannes Botha of Malelane, Mpumalanga, heard about a destitute pensioner in Zimbabwe who had no food or funds, he decided to do something to help.

He filled his car with food hampers and drove the 1 000km to Bulawayo to deliver it.

Then he was asked to supply food to another needy pensioner in an old age home. When he handed it over, he noticed how the other residents all stared at the parcel he had delivered.

"I knew then that they also needed food," Botha said during a visit to Durban.

"It took me another eight months to buy enough food to supply the 36 pensioners at the home with food hampers," he added.

And when he eventually handed it all over, many were so overwhelmed that they broke down and cried.

"It was then that I realised that the pensioners in Zimbabwe were facing a crisis. Their pensions were fast becoming worthless because inflation was out of control."

That was eight years ago, and since then Botha has helped thousands more pensioners.

"There is no doubt that some would have died without help," he said.

Unable to continue financing the operation on his own, Botha formed the Zimbabwe Pensioners Supporter Fund, a non-profit organisation, with friends and donors rallying to help.

Together they supplied 400 pensioners with food, clothing and basic medicines every three months. And when food disappeared from shop shelves in Zimbabwe, it was decided to supply the hampers every month.

The organisation now has three trucks that can carry 22 tons of food to 1 650 pensioners. Most of them live in old age homes, although some still live in their own homes.

"Some have no pensions at all, while others are only able to buy a few of loaves of bread with what is left over after paying their rent," said Botha.

"I have seen people with refrigerators that are not even plugged in. There is no point: they have nothing to put inside."

Despite their plight, Botha said that most pensioners put on a brave face, proudly saying that they were "fine" when the opposite was obviously true.

Since the "dollarisation" of the currency, with US dollar and the rand becoming legal tender in the country, the elderly were in an even worse situation than in the past, Botha said.

"Now the shops are full with goods again, but the old people cannot afford to buy anything as they don't have dollars and rands."

The Zimbabwe Pensioners Supporter Fund only supplies 40 percent of the needy with food, but aims to eventually supply the rest as well.

Botha has been travelling throughout KwaZulu-Natal to explain their plight, and residents have been opening their hearts and their pockets.

A Durban friend, Peter Wilson, has made a warehouse available where donations of food and clothing are stored until Botha's next trip to Zimbabwe.