New lease of life for derelict building
Ray Nkonyeni municipal spokesperson Simon April told Fever that RNM council resolved to approve a lease to the Sunrise Rehabilitation Centre for the property in question, and the lease is for a period of nine years and 11 months.
A dilapidated skills centre in Gamalakhe which had turned into a white elephant is currently receiving a makeover.
The property was previously used as a bakery but had been closed for over five years.
Recently, ‘whoonga boys’ were seen cleaning the property inside and out.
It will now be used as a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts. The Sunrise Rehabilitation Centre which was previously located in the Assemblies of God Church in Gamalakhe recently received a thumbs-up from Ray Nkonyeni Municipality (RNM) to use the property.
RNM spokesperson Simon April told Fever that the council resolved to approve a lease to the Sunrise Rehabilitation Centre for the property in question, and the lease is for a period of nine years and 11 months.
April said it has been over five years since the facility was abandoned by the previous tenant, saying that it has been severely damaged and occupied by vagrants.
“Before approving the lease, the municipality had received an application from the Sunrise Rehabilitation Centre. All costs of upgrading the facility will be undertaken by the tenant in question,” said April.
The Sunrise Rehabilitation Centre is the brainchild of Winnie Mbili, Bango Mabhida and Lulama Somtyele who are members of the Assemblies of God Church.
They said the idea of a rehab centre came in 2015 after the women held a prayer session.
“We started with one boy whom we took to a rehabilitation centre in Marburg. After he was discharged, a lot of his friends were interested in stopping smoking and going to church,” said Mbili.
She added that they had to move out of the church in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and its regulations.
Mbili explained that they reached out to the municipality because drug users were already occupying the facility illegally.
“They are sleeping there and while we were cleaning, we found cellphones and bags which we assume were stolen. We wanted this rehab in Gamalakhe to help fight the crime in the township. Now that the whoonga boys are being chased away from the Port Shepstone CBD, most of them are in Gamalakhe. For now, we can only take 10 people because we don’t have the necessary funds and we will gradually grow from there. We will bring in the people who ran a bakery at the centre to cook for those who are admitted and to also train them to bake. We want people who have a drug problem to reach out to us, it must not be their parents who want this for them,” she said.
For donations and more on the rehab centre, email winnie.mbili1@gmail.com
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