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Fed up with constantly having to shift her bed to avoid raindrops from the leaking roof at her old-age home, 78-year-old Sylvia Khala stopped paying rent.
She hoped this would force the council to improve her living conditions.
She has had to cope with dilapidated conditions at Amber Court in Vrededorp, Johannesburg, for years.
Her pleas to be moved to another room or downstairs, where she could easily walk in with her groceries without climbing the stairs, fell on deaf ears because she has owed rent since 2007.
She said she decided to stop paying rent in protest against the dreadful conditions there.
Last month she moved out after the city tried forcefully to move her to another facility which, she said, was far from the hospital and it would have been impossible to access her doctor.
“I refused to pay for living under such outrageous conditions. Moving my bed and other belongings because of a leaking roof was a daunting task. Management refused to allow me a room downstairs because I owed rent.
“I used to ask people to carry my groceries upstairs as I could not climb stairs carrying plastic bags. I’m too old for that kind of treatment,” she said.
With the help of the Economic Freedom Fighters and a city councillor, Khala is now staying temporarily at a friend’s house while she waits for the city to complete renovations at Amber Court.
Most tenants at Amber do not have cars and cannot afford to Uber so they walk long distances to catch a taxi or bus.
On better days Khala organised a private car to take her very early in the morning to the doctor at Helen Joseph Hospital so she could beat the queues.
There were no doctors or therapists at Amber.
The council runs 29 homes, with 3 075 units managed by the city. Some units are not occupied. In total 1 797 live in city homes and residents pay between R180 (for a single unit) to R360 (for a double unit) a month.
The city confirmed that the elderly and frail had to find their own way to get to a doctor.
Bubu Xuba, spokesperson for the city’s housing department, said “no frail care or any other medical aid is provided” in the homes for the elderly.
Residents who qualified for accommodation were required to be “self-sufficient”.
A municipal worker at one of the homes told City Press that when applying for accommodation, the city required consent from the family and a doctor that the person would be able to stay alone.
“It’s a risk. I don’t think it’s a right thing to do. I don’t know why we treat the elderly this way. They deserve to be taken care of,” said the worker, who is not authorised to speak to the media.
The City Press team also visited Nirvana Old Age Home in Lenasia and found one of the rooms designated as a clinic also being used as a storeroom.
The council says it no longer provides health services.
A source said the clinic had not been in use for more than five years. The facility has about 100 units and at least 96 residents.
“The elderly live alone and by themselves at weekends. The security guards look after the facility and have to call an ambulance when there is an emergency. No one knows what will happen if one [of the elderly] collapsed in the rooms because some of them live alone,” the source said. The oldest resident is 97.
City Press has learnt that some of the not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) old age homes monitored by the Gauteng social development department in Ekurhuleni metro have infrastructure problems.
What added to their troubles was that donations meant to benefit the elderly were often stolen.
Some of the tenants said incidents of discrimination and racism were common.
City Press learnt that a probe was under way at one of the NPOs in Vosloorus, and another in Springs, both in Ekurhuleni metro.
The social development department in Gauteng was alerted to allegations of maladministration and racism.
Mbangwa Xaba, social development spokesperson, confirmed the probe, saying the office of MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza had received a complaint from whistle-blowers at the Vosloorus NPO on January 12.
The allegations included:
• Mismanagement of funds (including issuing cheques, payment of salaries, change of pension money and purchase of groceries);
• Unfair dismissal of employees;
• Mismanagement of donations and theft of property (products going missing from the storeroom);
• Misuse of the vehicle – meant to ferry the elderly to clinics and hospitals – for personal reasons by staff on weekends and during office hours;
• Unconstitutional election of the current board; and
• Unhealthy and a lack of nutritious meals.
Xaba said: “We are extremely worried about these allegations. Care for the vulnerable and frail, such as the elderly, is paramount in our basket of services.
“As such, we keenly await the report on the inquiry into this matter so that we can ensure speedy resolution of all matters of dispute. We want our elderly citizens to enjoy the care they deserve.”
He said the department paid NPOs R1 982.23 a month for the care of each elderly person and R133 558 towards the salary of the social auxiliary worker.
Xaba said another investigation would be carried out at the Springs NPO after allegations of racism.
Caregivers were apparently not allowed to accompany black elderly residents to nearby clinics or hospitals, but they were instructed to do so for white residents.
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