Aged Persons Haunted by Abuse in Zimbabwe

HelpAge Zimbabwe director Priscilla Gavi is concerned about the elder abuse in Zimbabwe, especially as many are reliant on their families for support. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPSBy Jeffrey MoyoSep 28 2022 (IPS) At his house in Mabvuku, a high-density suburb in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, 86-year-old Tinago Murape claims his grandchildren starve him. Not only that, but Murape, who now walks with the support of a walking stick, said his three grandchildren – grown-up men with their wives and children living in his house, accuse him of bewitching them. Murape’s wife, Sekai, born in 1941, died two years ago after she contracted COVID-19. All of his three children, two sons and a daughter, succumbed to AIDS decades ago, Murape told IPS without beating about the bush as he tapped on the ground with his walking stick. Faced with joblessness and leading lives as domestic part-time workers in the affluent suburbs of Harare, his grandchildren strongly believe their grandfather cast spells on them, resulting in them failing to get formal jobs even though they are educated. Now the grandsons, and their wives, have reportedly slapped Murape with sanctions – denying him food as a way of punishing him for causing their economic misery, according to him. The grandchildren have vehemently denied the accusations. “That’s not true. It’s old age pushing him to think like that,” one of the grandchildren told IPS. Yet, for Murape, the abuse has gone on for years as he claims well-wi...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Featured Health Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report Zimbabwe Source Type: news