Action Society is outraged to see the elderly community of South Africa being attacked, raped and abused. Our most recent case concerns a 71-year-old woman from Strand in the Western Cape who was attacked and raped by her 27 year-old grandson on 13 August 2024. According to reports, this was not an isolated incident and that the accused had attacked her previously.
On 21 August, 2024, the Action Society team was at the Strand Magistrates Court where the suspect appeared on charges of assault and rape. The case was postponed to 2 September 2024 for further investigation. The accused also abandoned bail.
“This growing trend of abuse toward the elderly should concern all South Africans; they are the most vulnerable people in our society and any kind of violence toward should never be tolerated under any circumstances.”
“According to the Western Cape Department of Social Development, 15 cases of elder abuse had been reported in the first quarter of 2024/2025,” said Action Society’s Kaylynn Palm.
Palm stated that the 15 reported cases cannot be the only cases, and Action Society has reason to believe that these cases are being under-reported.
“We believe there are other senior citizens who are being abused but remain silent because of fear. We are calling on community members to be the eyes and ears and report these incidents,” said Palm.
In July 2024, an elderly woman was assaulted by her grandson in Kraaifontein. The video went viral and sparked outrage on social media. The teenager was arrested and was let out on bail; Action Society is overseeing this case.
In the same month, Action Society was informed about another case in Langa where an 85-year-old woman was attacked. According to the grandmother, her intoxicated 25-year-old grandson ransacked her house, breaking her washing machine and fridge before he began physically attacking her. Drunk and enraged, he jumped on her bed, kicked her in the torso and eventually threatened to kill her with a knife, which, fortunately for her, was not accessible to him at the time.
Action Society was mandated to take on the case and the attacker was granted bail of R500 in the Bishop Lavis Court.
“These cases are very worrying and disturbing, particularly the recent Strand case which has deeply upset the community. We cannot allow this trend to continue and we will make use of all our resources to help the victim. However it was great to see that the community of Strand, the Strand Community Policing Forum and Provincial CPF chairperson Fransina Lukas, were present to support the elderly woman. These cases are becoming more frequent, and it is unacceptable. We cannot allow this level of violence to become the norm in our society,” she said.
