Older Persons Act, 2006 (Act No. 13 of 2006)Chapter 5 : Protection for Older Persons25. Older person in need of care and protection |
| (1) | Any person who is involved with an older person in a professional capacity and who on personal observation concludes that the older person is in need of care and protection must report such conclusion to the Director-General. |
| (2) | Any person other than a person in subsection (1) who is of the opinion that an older person is in need of care and protection may report such opinion to a social worker. |
| (3) | The Director-General or the social worker to whom a report has been made must investigate the matter. |
| (4) | If the report is substantiated by the investigation, the Director-General or the social worker concerned may take any one or more of the following actions, namely— |
| (a) | facilitate the removal of the older person concerned to a hospital, in case of injury, or to a shelter; |
| (b) | make a report to a police official requesting the latter to act in terms of section 27; |
| (c) | take such other steps as may be prescribed to ensure adequate provision for the basic needs and protection of the older person concerned; or |
| (d) | if the older person concerned is the victim of an offence or crime, assist the older person to see a police official in order to lay a complaint. |
| (5) | An older person who is in need of care and protection is one who— |
| (a) | has his or her income, assets or old age grant taken against his or her wishes or who suffers any other economic abuse; |
| (b) | has been removed from his or her property against his or her wishes or who has been unlawfully evicted from any property occupied by him or her; |
| (c) | has been neglected or abandoned without any visible means of support; |
| (d) | lives or works on the streets or begs for a living; |
| (e) | abuses or is addicted to a substance and without any support or treatment for such substance abuse or addiction; |
| (f) | lives in circumstances likely to cause or to be conducive to seduction, abduction or sexual exploitation; |
| (g) | lives in or is exposed to circumstances which may harm that older person physically or mentally; or |
| (h) | is in a state of physical, mental or social neglect. |