Jubilant and nostalgic; pensioners danced to celebrate women's day

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An elderly woman turned up in colourful Xhosa dress

Pensioners dance for Women's Day As if to defy their age, a crowd of elderly people marked Women's Day by dancing the day away at the Alexandra Stadium. August 10, 2006 By Lucky Sindane IF you thought only youngsters could perform the latest dance moves like Twalatsa and Manyisa, think again. Celebrations for Women's Day began early in Alexandra as senior citizens got down to sounds played by DJs at the Altrek Stadium in Alexandra. About 3000 elderly people gathered at the Altrek Stadium in Alexandra north of Johannesburg on Tuesday, 8 August ahead of the national Women's Day celebrations. The event was organised by the Presidency Spousal Office and the South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID) in honour of the women's march to the Union Buildings in 1956 and to celebrate the role that elderly people played in fighting for freedom in South Africa. Elderly women rejoice to celebrate Women's Day Pensioner Martha Dlamini from Alexandra, who was involved in resistance politics during the late 1950s, told her story about the Potato Boycott. "During the 1950s white farmers used to kill our black brothers and bury them in their fields to make them more fertile," she said. "We used to go from house to house with people like the late Ester Hleza to stop women from cooking potatoes." As part of the weeklong community awareness programme, youth groups from within and outside Alexandra have volunteered to visit the elderly at home and help them with cleaning, painting and revamping the two old age homes in Alexandra. "It feels good to know that there are people out there who still care for us. It was very tough back in those days but now things are running smoothly, we can now dance with no cops stopping us," said an overwhelmed Violet Ntsala from Alexandra. In addition, the Alexandra Renewal project has donated five three-bedroomed houses to Itlhokomeleng Old Age Home, which will be completed in the next few months. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za