Durban - The Association for The Aged (Tafta) announced on Monday that it will soon be implementing the use of solar energy in stages at its facilities.
The non-profit organisation, which provides accommodation and care to over 2140 older people (at capacity) in eThekwini, and a further 3 500 older people in the community, said 15% of its total operating expenses are being spent on municipal services.
Tafta said the expenditure on municipal costs was R12.8 million in the last financial year.
Femada Shamam, the CEO at Tafta, said this staggering figure excluded the cost of fuel to power generators during load shedding and power outages, which have been on the rise in recent months.
“Not only are our elders affected by the lack of constant power supply, but our organisation faces increasing expenses by the hike in prices due to inflation. Caring for elders living with specialised needs such as dependency on oxygen is also made difficult with the intermittent supply of electricity and increasing costs of generator fuel,” she said.
As a proactive approach to mitigate these costs and the issues of disruption in the long-term, Shamam said Tafta was already in the process of implementing solar power at one of its homes.
“We hope to roll out this initiative to all Tafta buildings in a step toward decreasing our organisational carbon footprint,” she said.
Tafta said the constant dip in power supply also puts financial and physical strain on its beneficiaries, many of whom only receive a South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) pension of R1980 as their main income.
“My food is all spoiling in the fridge due to load shedding. I am a diabetic and heart patient and in this heatwave I cannot put my fan on, and it is affecting my health,” said elderly resident Mogie Naidoo.
The organisation said that while its implementation of solar energy will provide some relief from the exorbitant municipal costs allowing for more financial allocation toward elder care, it will also feed into its objective of adopting Eco-Friendly Operations; and most importantly improve the quality of lives of elders.