Eeufees Oord Old Age Home is in dilapidation.
There have been separate incidents in recent months that have become a cause for concern.
Most recently, a tree fell onto of the roof of a resident of the Westdene old-age home and for three months it has not been removed.
“With the rain the tree gets heavier and this tree is a threat to her because it can fall into the house. She has not been living in the house for the past three weeks because of this problem,” said Haroon Patel who represents residents at Eeufees.
According to Patel, the elderly woman is petrified and this is unacceptable because the senior citizens pay a monthly rental fee.
“We pay R230 for a single house and R400 for a double. Once you paid for rent you have to buy your own electricity and get food from the little money we have. What happens now when we still have to get someone to come and cut the grass.
We are relying on housing to help us out because we are old people and this is their premises.”
According to Patel, other people have also been affected.
“The woman that lives next door is also affected because when the tree fell on the roof it had an impact on her side of the house and now there is water that comes into her house.”
The Housing Department had not responded to questions by the time of going to print.
A senior member of the Westdene Community Patrol (WCP) Frikkie Botes said the situation had to be resolved.
This is not the only problem at the home.
“There are a couple of things that need fixing at the old-age home and the city is not fixing them. These are old people and we need to do our part to take care of them,” he said.
According to Mariam Mangera of the Westdene Resident’s Association, (WRA) residents have come together to take steps towards fixing the situation.
“Following recent communications regarding the dilapidated state of Eeufees, a committee of 10 Westdene residents was instituted through WRA and WCP to take on this project to understand how the old-age home has been neglected by the City of Johannesburg, forcing accountability and establishing a path to rectifying the shortfalls,” she said on the Westdene Johannesburg Crow Facebook page.
According to Mangera, members of the committee have met with City representatives in person and begun forward thinking discussions with two phases.
“The first phase is to establish a needs analysis for each unit and obtain permission from the City for Westdene residents to assist with the urgent requirements of Eeufees residents, which would otherwise be slowed due to red tape.
Members of the committee have already begun with the door to door analysis and the City has given verbal permission to allow Westdene residents to begin work, however we will await written confirmation before task teams are set up and deployed – tampering with City property without written permission is illegal.”
The second phase is to bring the City to account for the fall in service and develop a long-term solution for the upkeep of Eeufees.
Details: Mariam Mangera enquiries@westdene.org
