Sunfield Home Fortuna a battle royal
Moving the residents is not in their best interests.
Sunfield Home Fortuna was notified that the Mpumalanga social department is planning to relocate the state-subsidised residents.
The department has indicated that the state residents will be relocated at the end of September 2022.
This is a home for the physically and mentally disabled.
The government’s decision was taken after the Sunfield Home Fortuna board of directors requested that the current subsidy of R2 200.00 per month be increased for each state-subsidised resident.
The board of directors applied for an increase in the subsidy as the current amount has been a set amount given to each subsidised resident for the past 14 years.
The Mpumalanga social department refused the subsidy increase request and instead decided not to renew its contract with Sunfield Home Fortuna.
That means that there is no income to Sunfield from the government’s side to keep the residents in the home.
The only way residents can still be accommodated in Sunfield is if their families pay R7 000 per month to keep them in the home.
Unfortunately, not all the residents either have families that can afford the extra expense or do not have families.
With the current subsidy, Sunfield Home Fortuna is already running at a loss and is finding it more and more difficult to survive financially.
Sunfield home manager Brenda Gouws is gutted.
She said, “There are our children. Some of them have only known Sunfield as their only home and they are now taken away.”
Presently there are 70 residents in the home, of which 37 are state subsidised.
“To suddenly change the residents’ environment could affect or harm them mentally and physically,” said Gouws.
A petition is currently in circulation to stop the social department’s plan to relocate the residents.
The petition’s purpose is for the department to reconsider its plans to relocate the residents and to approve the request to increase the current subsidy.
The Vryheids Front Plus has already sent a request to the Mpumalanga government to arrange an urgent meeting to find a solution to the issue.
AfriForum has also jumped in to assist. AfriForum will be assisting the Sunfield Home Fortuna with legal assistance and advice.
The Mpumalanga government was contacted on August 22 for a response to the issue. No comment has been received.
