Impact Maintenance Services’ (IMS) owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) is looking into the possibility as his company was busy (on February 22) working on the second lift at the Western Extension flats.
The company would have to be added to EMM’s list before it would be allowed to work on lifts at the other council-owned flats in Benoni.
This comes as the lifts at Pauline Davis Court (three-storey building, Benoni CBD) have not worked since October 2015 and the lifts at Karachi Court (seven-storey building, Actonville) and Delhi Court (eight-storey flats in Actonville) have been non-operational for at least several years.
Delhi Court resident Reggie Pillai stated in a previous article by the City Times that he was one of the first tenants in the flats 40 years ago.
He said the lifts in the Actonville flats have been non-operational for about 35 years.
In the article, Pillai said he had resigned himself to the fact that the lifts won’t be fixed and that the municipality does not care for the people of Delhi Court.
Clr Imtiaz Loonat (Ward 29) was unaware of the lift repair at Deneys Conradie, but said a tender process was still underway to find a company to fix the lifts at council-owned flats in Benoni.
“The lifts at the flats in Actonville were fixed a few years back, but they were vandalised within a month and haven’t worked since then,” Loonat said.
“There are many people who hang around at Delhi Court and Karachi Court, but don’t live there.
“Before we repair the lifts in Actonville, we have to budget for some form of access control.”
John-Vincent Douglas-Haw is a stroke survivor living at Pauline Davis Court.
His right hand and leg don’t work, yet he was only moved into a flat on the ground floor late last year.
Douglas-Haw lived on the third floor for a year and was often forced to climb the stairs.
“If they would just communicate with us, things would be better,” Douglas-Haw said.
“I know money is tight, but it’s a crying shame that they don’t treat people with respect.”
“Many of the residents in Pauline Davis are afraid of being victimised and don’t want to say anything to the media.”
Douglas-Haw said “half an egg is better than an empty shell” when he was told of the lift at Deneys Conradie and the subsequent possibility of Pauline Davis’ lifts being fixed soon.
“We have a lot of sickly people here who can’t use the stairs every day,” a Pauline Davis Court resident said, who wished not to be named.
“For some, it takes up to half an hour just to get up or down.”
Clr Samuel Ngobese (Ward 73) expressed gratitude towards IMS for fixing the lift at Deneys Conradie and said council appreciates the work.
“Any help assisting the community is welcomed by government,” Ngobese added.
EMM was approached for comment, but none had been received at the time of going to print.
You may also interested in:
‘Good Samaritan’ thanked for lift repair
