Housing MMC comes to the rescue for Nancefield Retirement Village dwellers
The old age home has been a Hotspot for criminal activities.
One of the fundamentals of an old age home is that it should be a safe environment for elderly people, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at the Nancefield Retirement Village in Eldorado Park. Senior citizens staying at this old age home have alleged that it has been a nightmare for them, saying that they do not feel safe, especially at night and this is because of the vandalized wall as well as lack of security.
Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Housing, Mlungisi Mabaso came to their rescue as he finally introduced a contractor and coming up with alternative security plans to ensure the safety of the senior citizens at the retirement village.
“Eldorado Park is one of the poverty-stricken areas, as a result, the rate of crime is very high. The problem with this particular retirement village is that criminals jump over the wall to get in and rob the vulnerable elderlies staying here.
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“The wall was also vandalized, hence it is easy for them to just get in. It was easy for them to vandalize because the workmanship was so poor, there are also cases of illegal tenants reported to us, there is quite a number of issues, but I am grateful that we were able to raise those with the MMC in March and finally he came back to introduce the contractor,” said Ward 18 councilor Fazel Jaffer.
“Dwellers also raised the security issue, saying that the security is not enough, as you can see the property is quite big, which means more security required,” he added.
The refurbishment of this retirement village is expected to take a month and local people will be employed.
Although refurbishing the vandalized wall will decrease the crime at this early retirement village, dwellers still feel that criminals won’t be afraid to jump over the refurbished wall.
“The safety of senior citizens is a priority to me, therefore, after fixing the wall, we are going to build a guard room here, and we are planning to introduce a private security company, the plan is to have two securities at the back and two at the front. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that this place is safe for the vulnerable to stay,” said MMC Mabaso.
“Criminals don’t only vandalize this place to gain access and rob but they do so to also steal the building materials to use in their homes, as you can see, there are only few bricks next to the area but there’s a larger area vandalized. I have engaged with the security guards and they said that they are afraid to patrol here because it is extremely dark and unsafe for them at night and there’s just the two of them, with nothing to protect themselves,” Mabaso said.
In a nutshell, Nancefield Retirement Village is currently unsafe and one of the hotspots for criminal activities, these senior citizens’ children and grandchildren are forced to spend time there to make sure their grandmothers and grandfathers are safe. MMC said he will be working tirelessly to end this nightmare.
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