IN a bid to curb elder abuse, The Association for the Aged (Tafta) launched a toll-free helpline this week. The national service aims to assist community members in reporting elder abuse. The launch took place at Tafta Lodge in Durban’s Point area on Wednesday, November 23.
Tafta CEO Femada Shamam said reporting abuse is key to understanding the extent of abuse and creating safer communities for elders.
“Elder abuse continues to be an area of concern in our communities. A national elder abuse reporting line was operational until 2018 and served as an important resource to support older people to report abuse. Since the discontinuation of the line, there has been a gap in the support structures for people to report abuse. In South Africa, it is very difficult to quantify the extent of the problem as there is under-reporting of abuse to the various stakeholders. In short, a gap in the market to support elders, and the need to collate national statistics on the extent of the issue, motivated this initiative,” she said.
Shamam added that elder abuse is a crime in South Africa – elders are protected from abuse by the Older Person’s Act 13/2006.
“It is important for elders to report abuse so they can receive the support they need. It also helps service providers identify the perpetrators and take appropriate action,” said Shamam.
While elder abuse often goes unreported, Shamam believes it is a growing problem. Cases dealt with by Tafta in the last three financial years show a rise in abuse. Shamam said there were 27 cases reported in the 2019/2020 financial year, followed by 12 cases in 2020/2021 and 30 cases of abuse in 2021/2022.
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Shamam encouraged elders to reach out for help and report abuse.
“It’s important to report these matters so that support can be given. At times, older people are hesitant to report the abuse as they do not want to harm the perpetrator, especially if the perpetrator is a family member. However, intervention with the perpetrators may assist in mitigating against the factors that lead to abusive situations. Older people in South Africa are entitled to protection, and in order to ensure that this is a meaningful right, it becomes important for reports of violations to be lodged,” explained Shamam.
What is elder abuse?
Shamam defined elder abuse according to the Older Person’s Act.
“Any action or lack of action that causes harm or distress to an older person, within a relationship where there is an expectation of trust, can be deemed to be abuse,” said Shamam, who added that the most common types of abuse include physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse.
According to Shamam, physical abuse is evident by bruises, burns or fractures; emotional abuse can include name-calling, shaming and derogatory comments; financial abuse is seen when someone takes away an older person’s assets or finances, and sexual abuse is anything that compromises the sexual integrity of the older person, including sexual violation or exposing the older people to pornography against their wishes.
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Reach out for help
Through the newly launched helpline, elders or members of the community will be able to call for help at no cost to them. The helpline is available from Monday to Sunday between 07:00 and 17.00. Callers can report elder abuse, receive crisis counselling and be referred for services to the appropriate organisation in their geographical area.
“Our trained helpline counsellors will provide confidential, caring and professional assessment and counselling services, and identify the relevant resources from a national database to assist the older person,” said Shamam.
Call the toll-free elder abuse hotline at 0800 10 11 10.
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