Elderly suffer because of load shedding in Bethal
Old age home faces many difficulties in the dark
BETHAL – Residents whose parents or loved ones stay in one of the two old age homes in Bethal, are also concerned about the electricity problems of this town.
“I heard about an old woman who recently died in the dark in an old age home.
“Her children were there and sat by her bedside in the dark,” said a resident.
Another resident said the elderly at the old age home where her mother lives , experience load shedding every night from 5pm.
“My mother cannot even make something hot for herself to eat or drink at night, she cannot watch television, or switch on a heater when it is so cold,” said the resident.
“And because of the lockdown, we cannot even bring her to stay with us in Secunda or go to visit her. The electricity situation in Bethal is unacceptable.”
The staff at Silwerjare Old Age Home is also sitting with their hands in their hair when the electricity goes off.
“We battle to cook for our residents. The power will go out while we are in the middle of preparing food,” said Ms Magriet Scholtz, manager at Silwerjare Old Age Home.
“And there is no schedule for when the electricity is going off, so we cannot plan ahead.
“We had to throw away meat and other food which had spoiled, because there was no electricity.
“The only things these old people have to do, is to watch television or listen to the radio, and now they cannot even do that.”
She said they are behind with the laundry, because they cannot wash or iron without electricity.
“It is really a challenge for us.
“When we call the municipality’s call centre to complain or report it, they claim that our electricity was cut because of non-payment, but our account is up to date,” said Ms Scholtz.
During another conversation with the call centre, a committee member was told that the municipality may switch off Bethal’s electricity if they wanted. Ms Scholtz said her senior citizens who are on oxygen have three times the expenses than normal, because they have to buy more oxygen cylinders due to so many power outages.
“We are very worried about our residents here at Silwerjare. Over the weekend two of them hurt themselves in the dark,” said Ms Scholtz.
“We are thankful for the help from the community.”
Ms Scholtz said the old age home could really use a two plate gas stove for boiling water faster as they use the other gas stoves for cooking food. They are also in need of lights, flashlights, batteries, radio’s that do not work with electricity and hot water bottles for the old people.
If you want to help or support Silwerjare Old Age Home, contact Ms Scholtz at 082 873 1762 or 017 647 2545.
Also read: GMM budgets millions to tackle power problems
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