The Gauteng Department of Social Development once again teamed up with the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation in the south corridor and Lesedi Local Municipality to host popular golden games for senior citizens at Mpumelelo Stadium in Devon Sedibeng Region last week Friday.
The purpose of the games among others is to inculcate a culture of healthy living amongst the older persons. It aims to create awareness of the abilities and capabilities of older persons in sports and recreational activities. The games further seek to embrace Active Ageing that helps control chronic illnesses.

This is a programme for persons 60 years and older and is part of Government’s Older Persons Programme.

The chairperson of Sedibeng Older Person’s Forum Isaac Mamatela said exercising the mind to keep it active is as important as maintaining physical fitness, mental health and strength in older age.

“To ensure that the brain works as best as it can, the mind needs to be challenged every day. Thankfully, exercising the mind can be fun and easy to do thanks to quick games, tasks and activities that can be enjoyed anywhere and by anyone.

You can see our senior citizens are happy to be part of this activities and we thank God that our elderly people are gradually getting their lives back after months of lockdowns”, Mamatela added.

One elder Elizabeth Mokoena (67) from Devon said she is good at rugby ball throw and that they are happy to be back after months of being indoors due to coronavirus. She said the pandemic has affected the programmes and activities of older person’s greatly and now she is looking forward to participating in the games again.

Social work manager Michael Marubini said the games are meant to give older persons a platform to display their talents in sports, indigenous and fun games.

Due to compliance with covid-19 regulations only the limited number of senior citizens participated in this year’s regional games.