Tafta appeals for help in financial crisis

THE Association for the Aged (Tafta) is appealing to the public for financial assistance.

According to Femada Shamam, Tafta Chief Executive Officer, on top of the threat of elders succumbing to Covid-19, alarming reports are surfacing about non-payment of subsidies by the Department of Social Development.

“Dozens of old ages homes, orphanages and women’s shelters in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Limpopo have not received any payments for the past four months. Others have had their subsidies cut, without any warning or notification. Staff, who themselves have not been paid, are using their own savings to buy food for those in their care. Tafta is among those organisations whose subsidies have been cut. And it is disastrous!” she said.

Shamam said Tafta is already facing a funding crisis, since there has been no support from the department towards the additional costs of protecting the elders, homes and staff from Covid-19.

ALSO READ: Tafta homes hit by Covid-19 

“In homes where there have been outbreaks of the disease, we’ve had to find hundreds of thousands of Rands to pay for cleaning, sanitising, laundry, PPE, screening and testing. It’s placed a huge burden on us and other organisations like us. In fact, the entire future of social welfare services in South Africa is at stake. We could even see a repeat of the Life Esidimeni tragedy, where 144 mental health care patients lost their lives,” she said.

Shamam said NGOs like Tafta are contracted by the government to provide welfare services to those in need.

If funding dries up, the concern is what happens to vulnerable elders in their care, as Tafta can’t turn them out onto the street.

“We are relying on the compassion and amazing generosity of the good people of Durban to get us over this crisis, and make a contribution now to safeguard the future of elderly men and women in our care. Your gift will make all the difference in this time of great need and uncertainty,” said Shamam.

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

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At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.

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