Elderly still have to climb stairs
There may soon be relief for old and frail tenants in council-owned flats in Benoni, as the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) is waiting for a tender awarding process to be finalised for lifts to be repaired or replaced at four blocks of flats.
Earlier this year, the City Times reported on the plight of hundreds of pensioners who were forced to walk up and down stairs as lifts were non-operational or unreliable at Deneys Conradie Residentia (three-storey building), in Western Extension, and Pauline Davis Court (three-storey building), in the Benoni CBD.
One of the two elevators at Pauline Davis Court was repaired two months ago.
In addition, residents (who are not all pensioners) of Delhi Court (eight-storey flats in Actonville) and Karachi Court (seven-storey building in Actonville) still have to negotiate flights of stairs to get to their flats, as the elevators are not operational.
Delhi Court resident Reggie Pillai said Delhi Court’s lifts stopped working in the late 1980s.
It is still tough going for Deneys Conradie Residentia resident, Annatjie Pieters.
The 73-year-old woman, who has had operations on both her hips and is without a hip in her left leg, said she battles to negotiate the stairs.
Pieters was out of breath when she demonstrated the difficulty of climbing down six steps on Wednesday, last week, despite having the aid of a railing and crutch.
She said she has had to ask her sister, who lives on the ground floor of the same building, to do her washing for her, as she is not able to get downstairs with ease.
Pieters said she pays workers at Deneys Conradie Residentia between R5 and R10 every time she buys groceries, so that they will carry the goods up to her third floor flat.
Ward 29’s Clr Imtiaz Loonat and Ward 73’s Clr Samuel Ngobese could not say when work on the lifts would commence.
Loonat said he has requested the human settlement department to provide security measures at Delhi and Karachi courts, to prevent vandals from wrecking the lifts, as has been done in the past.
EMM spokesperson Themba Gadebe, said: “While the tender awarding process is underway, quotations are being called for, for the lifts to be repaired as and when required.
