As harrowing details of elderly abuse are being heard in a Welkom courtroom more than 800km away, an awareness campaign to educate the elderly on their rights against abuse got underway at the West End Community Hall in Gqeberha.
On Thursday, July 17, seniors from four senior citizen clubs (aged from 60 to 80) gathered to participate in stretching and aerobics exercises before watching a play, to demonstrate examples of abuse.
Desiré du Plessis, Chairperson of the Varsvlei Senior Citizen Club, who organised the event, said elderly people often faced horrific abuse.
“Our older persons are murdered; they are raped; they are brutally assaulted, and the elderly people are the most vulnerable people in our society, and because of that, they should be protected more.”
While World Elders Abuse Awareness Day is usually celebrated on June 15, Du Plessis shared that it was pertinent to create awareness throughout the year.
“We are bringing awareness to our older people so that they can be proactive, know exactly what signs to look out for when they are abused, the steps they can take, who they can turn to, and to remember that they are not isolated and alone.”
The activities for the day included an awareness programme, as well as active aging, aerobics and examples of what happens when there is abuse within the home.
“Incidents like the Welkom one and others are what we are fighting against and taking our plight to the national government,” she added. “So that national government know that they have to take steps to protect our older persons.”
Elva Koetaan-Van Zyl, Chair of the Older Persons Forum, commented that professional services are available to any elderly person who needs help.
“Professional services fall under the department of social development, and we must look at what we can do to prevent any other case of abuse against the elderly.”
The Older Persons Forum acts as a channel for information to be sent from older persons at the grassroots level to district, provincial and national government.
“It’s a platform from which older person’s voices can be heard,” said Koetaan-Van Zyl. “To promote and ensure just and equitable access to services for older persons.”
She added that elderly people are often too afraid to report abuse.
“Most elderly people are on government pensions, and not all cases are reported because the perpetrators are family members or live in the community.”
Nomfuneko Nyambe from the provincial Department of Social Development shared that abuse of elderly persons is rife within communities.
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of abuse nowadays, such as financial, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of older persons, so what we as the department are doing is funding them to have these social clubs, so that they can get together and share their experiences of abuse,” she commented.
“There are also caregivers who are funded by the department so that those who can’t come to the club can visit the elderly.”
Nyambe explained that it is often harder for elderly persons to report abuse because of their age and frailty.
“It is within families, and because they are old, some are very frail, so they can’t go to report these things, which is why we are funding the caregivers so that older people can retain their dignity,” she said.
“We see a lot of financial abuse because the elderly are forced to hand over their old age pensions. An elderly person who are experiencing abuse should report it to their caregivers who can report it to police.”
