Vandals lay waste to services
CONCERNS have been raised by the City over increasing vandalism and theft at community facilities.
Mayco member for Community Services and Health Zahid Badroodien said barely two months into the new financial year Cape Town’s community services and health directorate was already “faced with fresh challenges around vandalism and theft”.
Badroodien said two of their departments had set aside nearly R20 million for security features, R15m for the recreation and parks department and R4.3m for City Health.
He said the money could have been used to build a new clinic or park, or acquire vehicles to take services closer to communities.
“Aside from the financial considerations, vandalism and theft have a human cost that’s difficult to quantify and which takes its toll,” Badroodien said.
He said in one of the latest incidents at the Mayenzeke Clinic in Khayelitsha on August 6, staff arrived at work to find that the facility had been burgled.
“After breaking in, the suspects proceeded to break down doors to 10 rooms in the clinic, cut padlocks on drawers and cupboards, breake the glass window in the reception area and pull down the shelving, leaving patient folders in complete disarray,” he said.
Badroodien said among items stolen were computers, an electrocardiogram machine and nutritional products.
“The impact will be felt for a long while as staff are unable to make electronic appointments for clients, retrieve client folders or do data capturing, and documents were lost.
“Insurance claims take time to finalise, so the clinic has to make do without the stolen items until further notice, and of course, money that was earmarked for maintenance now has to be spent fixing the vandalism.”
He said additional security was appointed because clinic staff felt unsettled and vulnerable.