The elderly should not live like this
Appalling conditions revealed at Bay municipal old age homes
The bathrooms are rusted and the walls cracked.
At least 10 people, men and women, share a blocked, filthy toilet.
When they are sick, they push each other to the nearest hospital in wheelchairs.
The security is so slack that one couple, petrified of intruders, sleeps with weapons under the bed.
This is the life of the elderly people at the Elizabeth Stuurman old age home, one of four managed by the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality.
“Our homes have been broken into a number of times and the security doesn’t patrol, so I sleep with a huge axe next to me in case they [intruders] enter [through] our roof while we’re sleeping,” newlyweds Herbert Roelse, 78, and Sadia Williams, 66, said.
They keep three axes under their bed as they fear for their safety.
“The thieves take gates, geysers and cables. They take everything,” Williams said.
She would rather use a bucket to relieve herself than the filthy, broken toilets at the Korsten home.
Driving into the yard of the old age home in Highfield Road, two security guards rush to open the gate.
They do not ask for names or the reason for the visit.
It is one of the safety concerns highlighted by resident Irene Gallant, 66, who has lived on the premises for about six years.
That, and the fact that not a single caregiver resides at or visits the home to check on the elderly.
About 90 elderly people live at the old age home.
Sitting on a single bed in her cramped one-bedroom flat, Gallant said: “We are not safe here. We’ve been fighting for this place for ages.
“But instead of making us feel safe, management instals geysers and puts them in cages – but what about us?
“Why are geysers more important than the people living here?
“Security is slack and they are scared to patrol, scared of the gangsters because they jump over the fence in broad daylight and remove burglar bars and steal our things, running up and down the ceilings too,” Gallant said.
Elizabeth Stuurman is one of four old age homes under the management of the municipality since 2016.
The city took over the running from NGOs after an outcry from the elderly about their living conditions as well as concerns over their safety.
The other three homes are Adcock (55 residents), Allan Hendricks (12) and the Bethelsdorp old age home (99).
At the time, then mayor Danny Jordaan vowed to allocate R24m over three years to revamp the facilities.
But only R16m was allocated over the three-year period, of which R10.5m went towards security.
While some of the homes were painted, electricity infrastructure repaired and new plumbing installed, the bulk of the money goes towards having two security guards stationed at the gates of the four facilities 24 hours a day.
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said the city spends R3.5m a year on security for the homes, which comes out of its yearly allocation.
Gallant questioned what the contractors awarded the tenders to paint the homes did with the money.
“In 2016, they gave the old age homes R8m and what they did was they painted Adcock and painted Stuurman halfway and we’ve got three blocks that weren’t painted,” she said.
“We need security, proper fencing at the back because it’s a danger zone as gangsters jump over the fence.”
Resident Frank Jenniker, 69, said: “There are no caregivers here. Where did you ever hear of an old age home with elderly people but no caregivers?
“The two of us [Jenniker and Gallant] have to sometimes grab a wheelchair and take the elderly people to the clinic, and then we must fetch them again sometimes late at night.
“Why must we live like this? “This is an old age home, we’re supposed to be sitting back and relaxing right now but we can’t,” he said.
At the Bethelsdorp old age home, amputee Louisa Eckhard, 95, hops around her small room on one leg.
Her room is too small to be able to manoeuvre her wheelchair around.
Eckhard lives on her own at the home and cooks for herself.
Francis Davids, 71, who lives at the Allan Hendricks home, complained that they did not have a caretaker. “Old people can’t live here. “Old people can’t look after each other because we’re all old,” Davids said.
“There’s a reason why we’re staying here in the first place.”
Mniki said that, historically, the municipality had never had caregivers at the homes.
“There was, however, a caretaker at some of the homes who was also a resident.”
He said the municipality was not aware of break-ins in the individual rooms, although there had been incidents of
theft at the old age homes.
“These relate mostly to copper theft of pipes and elbows.
“It appears that the perpetrators watch the security guards on their rounds and then jump over the perimeter fence to steal pipes and taps.
“Most of the plumbing now consists of PVC piping and there has been a marked reduction in the incidents reported.
“The municipality is in the process of appointing contractors to provide new fencing around Elizabeth Stuurman and Adcock homes with the funding allocation of the current year,” Mniki said.
This money would go towards rewiring and fencing the Elizabeth Stuurman and Adcock homes and buying new geysers.
The Bethelsdorp home would be painted. “What is clear is that the budget for the old age homes is not enough.
“The municipality will continue to look within for more funds to complete the refurbishment and maintenance work that still has to be done.”
Human settlements portfolio head Andile Mfunda said he had been disturbed by what he saw when he visited the Elizabeth Stuurman home.
“The situation at the old age homes is pathetic, I mean old people stay there.
“We want a detailed report [from human settlements officials] around the allocated money which was meant to be used for renovations.
“This is a very serious matter because all departments are supposed to be involved in this.
“We need to make it a point that the old people are comfortable, because I was so disturbed,” Mfunda said.
It is often said that a true measure of any society is determined by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. If so, we must then agree that the conditions under which elderly people at the Elizabeth Stuurman old age home live are a symptom of a governance system so broken that it lacks empathy. These conditions and the normalisation thereof are a terrible indictment on the kind of society we have become. Ideally meant to be a comfortable, safe haven where the elderly are protected and cared for, the Elizabeth Stuurman old age home is in fact the opposite.
In one section, the walls are cracked, the bathrooms rusted, the toilet – shared by 10 men and women – is blocked and filthy.
There are holes in the ceilings, not to mention the slack security that has some residents so afraid that they sleep with axes under their beds.
This is no way for anyone to live – especially elderly people under the care of the state.
When the municipality took over the management of these centres in 2016 it promised to allocate at least R24m over three years.
According to officials, some of the money was spent on security with more promises to paint and fix some infrastructure. It is, of course, obvious that this is simply not good enough.
While on the campaign trail at the weekend ANC leaders in the city visited the homes and saw first hand what they later referred to as pathetic conditions.
The more pertinent question then is what is to be done about them?
Human settlements political head Andile Mfunda said they expected a detailed report on the management of these homes from city officials.
Most urgent perhaps is to fix sanitation and infrastructure.
Thereafter, the city must come up with a comprehensive plan to run these centres to provide dignity and comfort for those in their twilight years.