This while a 55-year-old female employee at the facility in question, Ons Tuiste Sentrum vir Bejaardes, will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court today on a charge of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm. The umbrella body is expected to address the matter which is receiving a great deal of social media attention, as well as allegations that nurses and caretakers at the facility are angry with how the matter was handled and are as a result threatening to strike.

The 55-year-old suspect from the Phelindaba township, who works in the kitchen area of the said old age home, is alleged to have gotten into an altercation with the 79-year-old Elize Devenish over a tub of yoghurt in the cafeteria on Wednesday, May 22. The altercation resulted in Devenish falling and breaking her left forearm in full view of CCTV cameras. The elderly resident was further left lying on the ground for over five minutes without receiving assistance, not even from a passing nurse. The two employees were suspended by the facility as a result and faced disciplinary proceedings. The outcome of the presiding officer’s investigation into the matter is yet to be released. Police spokesperson, Thabo Covane, tells OFM News the police have not arrested the nurse who was also suspended after the incident.

OFM News