A video clip of an elderly Eastern Cape man with cancer allegedly being beaten by a woman he lives with has prompted his desperate son, who is in lockdown in KwaZulu-Natal, to plead for urgent government intervention.

The son, who is in Waterloo, north of Durban, told SowetanLIVE's sister publication TimesLIVE he was devastated when he saw the clip, which shows a young woman beating the 78-year-old man seated in the living room of their Bizana home.

It is understood that a relative captured the incident.

“That woman lives in my father's home with her mother,” he said.

The man said that neighbours had previously informed him about the alleged abuse, which the woman and her mother denied.

“I am stuck in KwaZulu-Natal and my father, who is a cancer patient, needs help,” he said.

He approached the KZN department of economic development, tourism and environmental affairs.

MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube called the video “shocking” and said it “triggered feelings of anger, rage and disappointment”. She said her department had also been informed that the woman was drinking excessively with friends at the house.

“This video was sent to the department’s consumer protection unit’s WhatsApp number,” she said.

Dube-Ncube said the man requested “urgent intervention from the department”.

“We have briefed our provincial police commissioner and police leadership about this complaint. We have also handed it to authorities in the Eastern Cape province.”

The man said police visited his father's home on Wednesday, but no arrests had yet been made.

“I received a call from the mayor today and a local councillor is going there. I just want my father to get help — I am worried,” he said​

Dube-Ncube said social workers had also been deployed to the house.

“We were comforted the progress report we have received from the Eastern Cape provincial head of visible policing, Brig Malibongwe Ntsabo,” she said.

“We all have a responsibility to restore and protect the dignity of senior citizens.”