Call for City to address nursing home ills
THE ANC is calling for an urgent intervention from the City and the province to assist residents of the Helen Bowden Nursing Home in Sea Point.
“The situation in this building is disgusting and it’s not conducive for human beings to stay here and it’s not fair for them to be treated like this.
“What we have seen here needs an urgent intervention from us as councillors. We want to assist everybody here,” said Thandie Makasi, the ANC City caucus chief whip.
She said it had been brought to her attention that the City was fully aware of the state residents were living in.
“They have not done anything, even the previous mayco member Brett Herron is aware of this.
“They are just playing a ‘shift and blame’ game and what’s bad here is that there are children, the situation here is a health hazard,” she said.
On Friday the ANC City caucus conducted a site visit to the nursing home to see how residents lived.
The residents, who have been occupying the home for over two years, have no electricity or running water. They have to deal with blocked drains inside the building, and to stop urine and faeces from spilling over from toilets, they have blocked toilet doors with sand. They have not had their rubbish picked up in ages.
In June last year, the provincial government said it had spent R18million since July the previous year on security at the home, and the provincial department of public works said it was now forced to spend R2.9m a month on security there. Earlier this month, reports of assault and sexual abuse at the home surfaced.
“Since we are here, we will be knocking on everyone’s door for assistance, we will go to public works and to the City so that all spheres of government can come together and assist them,” Makasi said.
Resident Nonkosi Mzotsho said: “Our main concern while living here is that the drains are blocked, the collection of the rubbish – this place is very dirty, our children are getting very sick. We’re planning to draft a memorandum so that they are aware of our conditions.”
Ward councillor Dave Bryant said: “This is a provincial matter… they are responsible for maintaining the building and they manage it.”
MEC for Transport and Public Works Donald Grant said that it was the City’s responsibility to supply electricity and water, not the province’s.