Cape Town - Strandfontein residents are outraged by the death of grandmother Mymoena Koelman, who they say had been tormented by her drug addict grandson for years without intervention from social workers and police.
Tempers boiled over this week when a disturbing video surfaced on social media, showing the frail 76-year-old being harassed by Kaashif, 25, who demands money to buy ungah (heroin).
Aunty Mymoena passed away suddenly in her home on Tuesday morning, and her janaazah (funeral) was held later that day amid an uproar from residents, who believe authorities failed the helpless grandmother.
Kaashif’s brother, Faghrie, 31, says he recorded the video a week before she died, in an attempt to get help for Kaashif, who has been terrorising the family for 11 years.
The clip, which is nearly two minutes' long, shows Kaashif grabbing the frightened woman on her arms and chest as she sits in an armchair.
Video shows the man asking his grandmother for R10 for drugs.
He repeatedly asks, “Kanala mama, net ‘* R10,” as she tries in vain to beat him off with a spoon.
Granddaughter Kashiefa, 20, explains her brother started using heroin as a teenager and the addiction became progressively worse.
“First he smoked it with foil and then he started injecting it.
"Every morning when he goes cold turkey, then he goes on with my ma. She couldn’t take it.
“I used to go and get it for him, then I know he is OK for the day. But now he is spiking, now when he wakes up, his mind is only on the ungah.”
Kashiefa says Mymoena was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm several years ago and while residents and relatives blame Kaashif for her death, he was not at home when she died," she says.
“My ma had an aneurysm in the main vein of her heart and the doctors said it could erupt any time. The paramedics didn’t give us a cause, they just wrote ‘sudden death’ on the forms.”
Community Policing Forum chairperson Sandy Schuter says now that the woman has died, authorities want to “wash their hands in onskuld”.
“The community is kwaad (angry) because Aunty Mymoena was harassed for years. She would phone me screaming for help in the middle of the night and I would go there with the police, and he would run away every time,” she says.
“We called the Department of Social Development, but they never came out, it was always excuses.
“Now that this video has gone viral, the social workers and police want to wash their hands in onskuld.”
Social Development spokesperson Esther Lewis says they are investigating the claims to establish the facts of the case.
“Meanwhile, an application has been made in order to get substance abuse intervention for the boy in the video.
"The family was further advised to open a criminal case, as a court-ordered admission to a treatment facility is also an option,” she says.