CONTROVERSY surrounds an elderly man who has been admitted to hospital after claims were made that he was receiving inhumane treatment and was found covered in maggots while under the care of a caregiver.
Brian Jones (70), it has been confirmed, was admitted to the South Rand Hospital after help was desperately sought last week by residents of the Pioneer Park Old Age home. (The story appeared on the front page of the COURIER of July 11.)
Residents made shocking claims about Jones living under unlivable conditions and contacted the COURIER, desperately pleading for intervention and saying something needed to change as Jones was simply not being taken care of.
South Rand Hospital spokesperson Phafudi Molapo said Jones was admitted and was in one of the hospital wards receiving treatment.
Molapo, however, said he was not at liberty to disclose the condition of Jones or grant access for visitation.
He said he would provide further details once approved by the hospital.
Missing SASSA card
Further controversy now follows as the 70-year-old’s SASSA card appears to be missing.
The care-giver looking after Jones, Elize Geldenhuys, admitted to having provided care for Jones and also to have had Jones’ SASSA card.
The Meals on Wheels employee, however, said she had been barred from contact with Jones since allegations of misconduct by the Pioneer Park Old Age Home residents. She also told the COURIER that she had acted in her personal capacity since, “Meals on Wheels ordered us to withdraw from old age homes since their (Meals on Wheels) focus should move to the poorest of the poor and feeding the homeless.”
Out of her pocket
Geldenhuys, who made two visits to the COURIER this week in an effort to clarify her role in caring for Jones, said she had given the card to the maintenance caretaker at the old age home named William. On her second visit to the office, she also produced a couple of sworn affidavits in her favour.
In the previous report she told the COURIER that she gave William the SASSA card with a detailed breakdown of what William needed to do in order to take care of the frail Jones.
Geldenhuys claimed she would often manage Jones’ finances, and ensure a cleaner went to the centre and cleaned Jones’s room.
READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE: Despair for old man with maggots
She paid the cleaner R400 per month when she started cleaning his place once a week. According to Geldenhuys, the cleaner at first only cleaned once a month.
She added that she ensured Jones ate three times a day by asking Eugene Long, also a resident of the home, to cook or prepare his meals.
“If he did not have enough money to buy groceries I would provide out of my own pocket,” she told the COURIER.
Geldenhuys reiterated that she took care of Jones in her own capacity and admitted to the COURIER that she knew it was a mistake to have his SASSA card and to keep on caring for Jones.
Never the same again
The COURIER contacted Eugene Long, who said Jones had been taken advantage of.
Long seconded what Palmer Clarense said the previous week about Jones receiving an accident payout which was taken by those who were close to him.
Long continued and said Jones’ previous care-giver was the one who took advantage of Jones, having taken his money and left the old age home.
He said Jones was never the same since.
He too said he did not know where Jones’ card was.
Jones’ expenses:
Geldenhuys said she would also ensure his lights and other expenses were paid for, as well as ensuring Jones had pocket money.
She wrote a breakdown of Jones’s expenses which included: cigarettes at about R400 a month, cleaning lady fee at R400, spending money for Jones of about R30 and food at R350 a week.
SASSA had since April 1 increased payments to R1 600 according to their website.
The COURIER discovered Jones had suffered a power outage upon our first visit to Jones’ place and Geldenhuys said it was because of a bridged illegal cable that was discovered since new meters were added to the old age centre.
She claimed someone had illegally connected Jones’ room with power and it was left powerless since the new meters were inserted in recent weeks. The COURIER could not confirm the alleged illegal connection.
Jones apparently refuses medical care
She again claimed she contacted ambulance services on several occasions but Jones often refused to get help or to be taken to hospital.
She, however, provided the COURIER with a hospital admission letter stating that Jones was admitted on May 26, 2017 and was discharged on June 6, when he was diagnosed with dementia and dehydration.
Efforts to find SASSA card:
Geldenhuys said she gave Jones’ SASSA card to William and has since distanced herself from Jones after Jones was admitted to hospital.
The COURIER contacted William, who said his name was Willie and refused to provide his surname.
‘Willie’ said he did not have the SASSA card that Elize claimed to have given to him, anymore.
He said he had the card last week, with instructions on how to take care of Jones. He also stated that the card only had R1 000 on it and he withdrew R100 from it.
“Soon a man came who said he was my manager,” he said, “and told me people were talking. The man who claimed he was my manager said he wanted the card.” Willie said he gave the card to the unnamed man who claimed he was his manager.
Asked how the COURIER could contact the man, Willie said he would not tell us the man’s name.
Numerous attempts to persuade Willie to do so were fruitless.
Efforts to find Jones’ SASSA card had failed at time of print and the COURIER was still investigating the whereabouts of Jones’ SASSA card.
Jones’ condition was also to be confirmed.
The COURIER made contact with the SASSA offices to find out whether it is legal for somebody else to be in possession of a pensioner’s card and withdraw money from it and also to pass it on to other people.
We are awaiting their comment.
Meals on Wheels’ Gershon Naidoo, National Programmes Director, was offered an opportunity to comment. He sent a lengthy email which ended with: “Please do not quote me or any part of this email in your story because I do believe that the information you received is sufficient. If you require a formal response please kindly engage with us on facts pertaining to the case of Mr Jones and not to that of our staff and we will kindly and willingly oblige.
“Thank you once again for your call and with all sincerity wish a retraction to be printed.”
The COURIER is also trying to get comment from the management of the old age home and will keep our readers up to date.
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