Cape Town - Congregants of the Central Methodist Church have been told that they are now worshipping in a bedroom.
The church on Greenmarket Square has become home to 130 pensioners from the Eastern Cape, who travelled to Cape Town three weeks ago to picket outside Parliament for their pension money.
For three nights, the group of mostly elderly people slept on the pavement outside Parliament, where the rain soaked through their blankets. “Most of us are feverish now,” said pensioner Nolwazi Mdingi. “Two were taken to hospital already.”
Minister Alan Storey invited the group to take refuge in the church building, where they have access to hot water. He invited them to sleep in the pews.
Some of the elderly have been fighting for pensions since 1988, according to Mdingi, who is fighting on behalf of her husband who worked on the railway.
They have hired 23 lawyers and a private investigator, and made four trips to Parliament to beg for help – but say they have yet to see a cent of their pensions or provident funds. Boy Mpushe, 98, has been on all four trips to Cape Town to chase the pension he says he is owed.
Sleeping outside Parliament, the rain seeped through his blankets. He suffered an asthma attack that landed him in hospital. Now, sitting in the pews of the Central Methodist Church, he keeps one hand on the inhaler in his pocket.
“We are not going away until they give us our money,” Mpushe said. “We’ve still got hope. Maybe they will give us our money and we can go home.”
The group borrowed money for the bus ticket to Cape Town, and have no way of returning home until their pensions are paid out. It was a tearful trip for Noma-India Ngangane, who followed in the footsteps of her late father. He came to Cape Town in October last year, but the travel took its toll on his health. Shortly after returning to the Eastern Cape, he suffered a stroke and died.
Ngangane said five of the pensioners on the last trip have already died this year.
For all the pain and frustration the group has suffered, they have also been helped by some Good Samaritans along the way.
Traders from Greenmarket Square gave them R812 on Tuesday to buy food and the group have also found allies among UCT Fees Must Fall students, who brought them braaied chicken and stew, along with some tips on how to get noticed outside the gates of Parliament.
“The students told us we can’t just sit and pray outside Parliament, we have to sing,” Mdingi said, laughing. “But we are old people, we can’t toyi toyi. My knees are finished, I can’t do that.”
She said the UCT students offered to protest on their behalf if the money was not paid out. “They said they are used to fighting the police at Parliament.”
Mdingi said they had come to visit the ANC, but had found no help from within the ruling party’s ranks.
“It is the people we didn’t vote for who helped us,” she said. “The EFF brought us food and drinks, the PAC brought blankets, and the UDM cooked us a good meal. The people we voted for never cared for us.”
Cape Argus