Old age home remains a mismanaged mess
Maintenance issues the onus of Department of Housing and City Council, but commitments are not honoured.
Commitments made by government officials in March still has not been implemented at Donovan McDonald Old Age Home.
Since January the record has reported on ongoing issues at the home including leaking pipes and drains, unkempt grounds, feral cat and rat infestations, lax security, lights that do not work and children illegally living on the premises with their elderly parents. In March these issues still were not addressed and it can be argued that by September, some of these issues partly or wholly contributed to the assault on elderly resident Erasmus Greyling (71) and a housebreaking.
DA councillor Dave Dewes seems to be fighting a losing battle, having been involved since 2006, and has called his efforts “a thankless task where everyone wants results but not everybody comes to the table”.
“Unfortunately, I cannot fire incompetent officials and I have to keep on begging for them to do their jobs,” says Dewes.
“When a tremendous amount of effort is put in to dealing with ongoing concerns and it is escalated wherever possible, all you can do is keep on keeping on,” Dewes says about his ongoing struggle to get the matter addressed.
The record is in possession of minutes of meetings held with the committee in February, in particular between Dewes and chairperson Alec McNeil and vice chairperson Henry Julius that indicate that issues regarding leaks and the boundary wall were raised with Department of Housing area manager Elsie Ndabetholi and her superior Ethel Sereme. Ndabetholi indicated that a contractor was allocated to provide a quote for constructing a sturdier boundary wall. The minutes also indicate that Sereme committed to a monthly meeting with the committee. Regarding lax security at the home, Region C official Sello Mathotoane indicated that more security personnel were employed at the home in February. All officials committed to feedback within a month’s time (March), but no boundary wall has been erected yet and no evidence exists of new security personnel. Most maintenance issues persist.
It is understood that Sereme will visit the home on Tuesday, 28 October. The record has requested feedback from both Sereme and Mathotoane by Wednesday, 29 October.
