Burdensome red tape prevents Thembisa Old Age Home from opening while elderly residents suffer
by Clr. Bongani Nkosi — DA PR Councillor in Ekurhuleni
Date: 01 September 2021
Release: Immediate
Type: Media statement
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni is dismayed at the incompetence of the ANC-led City of Ekurhuleni, as well as the Gauteng Provincial Government, for failing to open the Thembisa Old Age Home.
The R30-million facility was built in 2012, but only opened its doors to the elderly two years later in 2014. Five years later, in 2019, amid issues of conflicting zoning and various issues relating to the non-compliance of building regulations, the facility was granted a temporary operating license for six months to rectify these issues.
The six-month deadline has since long lapsed which followed the closure of the facility and the relocation of residents to other facilities or to their families. It is unfathomable that the City has taken over two-years to take any action to get the facility to an acceptable level of compliance. According to MMC Nkosi, an application to resolve the conflicting zoning issue was only submitted to the Surveyor General’s Office at the end of April 2021. Frustratingly, a formal outcome is still pending.
During the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, the Thembisa Old Age Home would have been an ideal location to accommodate excess patients suffering from the virus, especially in the context of the Thembisa Hospital reaching maximum capacity during the height of the second and third wave of infections.
It is inexplicable that the Hospital had to repurpose wards, and erect tents in order to add an additional 192 beds to meet capacity, while the Old Age Home provides a perfect extension to assist in providing extra capacity in treating Covid-19 patients.
The poor planning by the ANC and their coalition partners* in the CoE is shameful. Their incompetence and inability to properly maintain their City’s facilities, has led to the most vulnerable in our communities being put at risk.
The DA will continue to put pressure on the Department of Health and Social Development, as well as the Gauteng Provincial Government, to ensure that the Metro takes urgent action to ensure that the Thembisa Old Age Home becomes compliant to start servicing the needs of the City’s elderly.
#Time4Change
*Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)
Cllr. Bongani Nkosi
DA PR Councillor in Ekurhuleni
