One man is pushing for a change to labour legislation that will allow workers to take paid time off to look after their parents
‘When you are a child, your parents do everything in their abilities to take care of you. They go out of their way to assist you and they make a lot of sacrifices. And now it is important that we look after our parents to the best of our abilities,” Cape Town Democratic Alliance city councillor Hendri Terblanche says over the phone.
He says although many people have considerate bosses who give their workers time off to take care of their families, others do not. A legal opinion by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, a unit of the FW de Klerk Foundation, notes that because of economic constraints and the rise in the cost of care, very few people have the luxury of securing professional care for their older family members; instead, they rely on assistance from relatives. As a result, older people often retire to the homes of their adult children, the legal opinion reads.
No African country has signed elder-care leave into law. But caring for older people is enshrined in protocol adopted by the African Union. Article 10 of the Protocol on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa enjoins member states to adopt policies and legislation that provide incentives to family members who provide home care for older people. However, only five of the 55 AU member states have signed the protocol and none have ratified it.
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