An elderly woman, allegedly abused by her grandson, was discovered by Thembisa police officials during a door-to-door campaign against gender-based violence (GBV).
SAPS members in Thembisa embarked on the campaign in Greenfield’s Esselen Park in the fight against GBV. It included members from social crime prevention, communications, GBV co-coordinator and sector managers.
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While the door-to-door campaign was still in progress, a group of concerned neighbours approached the police to report an elderly woman who was being mistreated by her grandson.
“According to the elderly woman’s neighbours, the grandson takes all of her government benefits and uses it to buy drugs, leaving her locked up in her home with no food and wailing in the middle of the night,” said the Thembisa police spokesperson, Const Patricia Mgijima.
“The elderly woman was discovered frail on a two-seater couch.
“The woman was taken away by social workers from the eThaeni Clinic. She was transferred to a safe location for medical help. After becoming belligerent and attempting to assault SAPS members, the grandson was arrested and transported to Thembisa SAPS,” said Mgijima.
The Thembisa SAPS station commander commended the Esselen Park community for being bold and reporting the incident.
During the campaign, officials highlighted issues that led to violence against women and proposed solutions to these issues.
According to Mgijima, there is a need to educate women on the rights that are enshrined in the Constitution.
“Women should know they are protected by the law of the land. In light of expected increases in GBV as a result of Covid-19-related restrictions, as well as a lack of victims’ ability to access those services to help against GBV, our officials launched a large-scale door-to-door awareness campaign to raise community awareness of GBV rights, legal remedies and available services.”
Mgijima spoke out against the growing habit of police dismissing men who report abuse.
“We’ve successfully assisted a few male victims.”
