Old age home at abandoned house closes suddenly

An old age home that was established towards the end of last year in an abandoned and vandalised residential house in the upmarket working-class suburb of Leondale has suddenly closed down and its elderly residents relocated elsewhere.

This is after it caught the attention of concerned local residents.

Concerned local residents from the neighbourhood told Kathorus MAIL that they were caught by surprise when an abandoned and vandalised home, that has had no water or electricity for several years, was suddenly opened as an old age home around September 2022.

“We do not know who these elderly pensioners were, nor whence they came and when were they brought to the house. We just woke up one morning and noticed that they were there, sitting outside and basking it the sun,” said a middle-aged resident who lives not far from the home and wanted to remain anonymous.

According to Tumisang Seboko (not his real name), whose house is further down the same street, the newly established home for the aged caught his attention via the local social media page.

“Many people here were shocked to hear that the abandoned and dilapidated house has been turned into an old age home,” Seboko explained.

According to residents who live close to the premises, the property has been standing empty for some time and at one point it was used by local prostitutes and as a drug den.

“When the drug addicts and prostitutes were chased away by concerned residents, the empty house was taken over by local taxi owners who used the property as a wash-bay and a parking facility for their vehicles,” said another local resident who also wanted to remain anonymous.

Efforts by the MAIL to trace the owner of the property proved fruitless. It is also believed the elder brother of the owner may have moved to the Eastern Cape.

Another neighbour confirmed that his family regularly allowed the old-age homeowner access to draw water from his house. The man denied that his family also supplied the old age home connection to electricity from his house.

Instead, he said the old age homeowners had installed solar panels to generate electricity supply to their premises. However, there was no evidence on the roof of the dilapidated building that solar panels had been installed.

And when the MAIL visited the new old age home in December 2022, under the pretext of enquiring about the admission of an elderly family relative to the home, the newspaper was denied entry into the premises to inspect the dormitories.

The MAIL was requested to provide contact details to arrange a visit on another day.

The local ward councillor, Nqaba Nhlapho, told the MAIL that he had since informed the social development office in Ekurhuleni after he received information about the old age home.

At the time of going to print, the councillor had not confirmed the feedback from the Department of Social Welfare.