Toekie Enslin (63) was not impressed with the metro’s failure to assist her in getting her husband Johan (68) to the fifth floor at the complex.
The elevator at Markville housing complex has been broken since the beginning of February 2016.
Because the elevator was not working she decided, prior to Johan’s discharge from hospital, to ask for assistance from the metro’s housing department.
Johan, who has colon cancer, was operated on seven weeks ago and was discharged from hospital on June 23.
The idea of how to get him upstairs was too much for Toekie to handle.
“I was in distress and honestly thought the metro would send someone to help us get Johan to the fifth floor,” she says.
Needless to say, she received no response from the metro and had to make alternative arrangements.
She asked two residents, Fanie Keyser and Peet Botha, to help her.
They supported Johan on each side and Toekie was waiting for them with a chair at each flight of stairs.
Between each flight of stairs Johan had to sit on the chair to catch his breath to gain strength.
“It took us almost 45 minutes to get him to the fifth floor and safely into bed,” she says.
This exercise will be repeated on a weekly basis when Johan has to go for check-ups at the hospital. Toekie says he has to go back to hospital once a week until December.
“If the elevator is not fixed soon, I do not know what is going to happen. I worry if his wound will be properly healed,” she says.
What concerns her most is the metro’s lack of responsibility to look after their own buildings and the people residing there.
Why it is taking them almost two years to come up with a solution to the problem Toekie cannot begin to apprehend.The elevator problems at the complex started about two years ago.
“First the elevator had to be repaired several times and then it broke completely,” she says.
She is not impressed with the current situation and says if anything happens to her husband the metro will be held responsible.
In a previous article the metro spokesperson Themba Gadebe responded by saying that the bid specifications for the tender to replace the elevator, was due to be submitted to the Bid Specification Committee last week.
At the time of publication, no comment had been received from the metro on whether the bid specifications were submitted.
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