Cape Town - Police statistics show more than 3 400 elderly women and men aged 60 and above were criminally assaulted in the Western Cape and Gauteng alone in 2021.
Police recorded 1 070 women pensioners over 60 years old were victims of assault in 12 months in the Western Cape in 2021 – second only to Gauteng’s 1105.
The province also had the second most assaults reported to police of men over 60, with 564 cases.
Once again, Gauteng topped the provinces with 712 cases.
These statistics were presented in the form of replies by Police Minister Bheki Cele, sent this week, to parliamentary questions posed by IFP MP Zandile Majozi.
She had asked for the number of assault cases opened by the elderly and the number of cases of theft/embezzlement of the elderly’s SA Social Security Agency grants.
Cele said several Sassa theft/embezzlement cases were being investigated by the Hawks. He said police could not immediately provide these figures as the crime administration system/ investigation case docket management system did not reflect the information.
To get this information, Cele said, all the police stations would have had to do physical paper work, diverting critical resources from planned operations.
The Association for the Aged (Tafta) chief executive Femada Shamam said the figures of assaulted elderly people were “disturbing”.
Cele said from January 1, 2021 to December 2021, across the country, 5 554 cases of assault of elderly women were reported, while 3 266 elderly men were reported to have been assaulted.
In the category of assaults of women aged 60 and above, the Eastern Cape recorded 987 cases; Free State 404; Gauteng 1 105; KwaZulu-Natal 783; Limpopo 452; Mpumalanga 271; North West 272; Northern Cape 210; and the Western Cape recorded 1070 cases.
Police recorded that assaults of men of the same age group numbered 503 cases in the Eastern Cape; Free State 219; Gauteng 712; KwaZulu-Natal 85; Limpopo 308; Mpumalanga 177; North West 176; Northern Cape 122; and Western Cape 564.
Shamam said: “These incidences are a reflection of the wider escalation of criminal activities in our society. Older people are viewed as soft targets by criminals.”
She said in the last year they had incidents where the elderly were robbed on the streets. Shamam said there could have been under-reporting of cases.
She suggested, among other things, awareness be raised for old people’s vulnerability to assaults and that communities involve themselves through Community Police Forums to create a network for the safety of the elderly.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za