AN urgent appeal to the KZN Health Department to address the growing concerns and issues surrounding the dilapidated King Dinizulu Hospital’s nurses’ residence has been made by ward 31 councillor Chris Pappas on behalf of the residents of Asherville.
Pappas said he had been forced to resort to corresponding directly with the Department’s legal services and Head of Infrastructure after he received no response from the Department to emails, meetings and a flood of complaints from residents who live in proximity to the site in Daintree Avenue, Asherville.
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“As the ward councillor for the area I am the first point of call for complaints. However, the facility and the issues that come with it fall under a different sphere of government. We are thus very limited as ward councillors in terms of what we can do. For years now the abandoned facility has been inhabited by fluctuating numbers of illegal occupants. Residents have written to the department, handed over petitions and engaged with the hospital, but there has been no positive progress,” said Pappas.
He said he was aware that the issue of evicting the occupants was currently with the state attorneys, but was more than concerned about the time that it was taking to resolve the issue.
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“On a weekly basis I am sent pictures and videos of people moving into the building. Crime in the area has increased. The area outside the residence is dirty, there is stagnant water with mosquitoes that are affecting the local community. Property values are also decreasing,” he said.
Pappas said ratepaying residents of Asherville were getting to a point where they were running out of options.
“It is not reasonable of the state to subject law-abiding and tax-paying citizens to the current situation,” he said.
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