Note to Broadcasters: Please find linked soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Arista Annandale.
The DA in the Mahikeng Local Municipality has requested our provincial spokesperson on Health and Social Development, Gavin Edwards MPL, to ask the MEC for Social Development, Boitumelo Moiloa, to intervene with immediate assistance to the elderly residents of the Rotarus Old Age Home who have been without electricity for more than a month.
This follows a DA oversight inspection at the home after receiving several complaints from residents about the general poor management and lack of services at the facility.
Since the electricity supply has been suspended, the 28 elderly residents have been receiving a small bucket of hot water, heated on a gas stove to bathe.
The Rotarus management claims that the facility owes Eskom roughly R700 000 in unpaid electricity bills accumulated over time which has resulted in the suspension of electricity supply. To reconnect electricity supply, Eskom requires a 50% payment towards the debt.
In addition, the management claimed that the Department of Social Development is partly to blame for the situation because of the late payments of subsidies as per the Service Level Agreement (SLA).
However, the Head of the Department decided to withhold funding for the financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23 because the Rotarus Old Age Home is not tax-compliant and concerns that unspent funds were irregularly transferred into another account, which is expressly against the SLA. A High Court order issued on May 8, 2023 supports the Department of Social Development’s position. (See judgement here.)
The Eskom debt, the unpaid municipal account, and several other debts are blamed on the previous management allegedly implicated in fraud of millions of Rands around 2015, and that it has been difficult for the Home’s management to recover from this financially.
The DA’s main concern is the compromising situation of the quality of life of elderly and frail residents at the home. These elderly residents are now carrying the suffering brought about by the actions of other stakeholders they had nothing to do with.
It is a shame that elderly and frail people, who pay rent from their meagre pensions, are being exploited in this manner.
We recognise that Eskom is entitled to the settlement of debt to restore electricity supply and the Department of Social development was well within its rights to withhold subsidies, but the DA strongly believes that the 28 residents should not be denied their basic human rights specifically the rights to electricity supply and decent and healthy living conditions.
The DA will request the Department of Social Development to investigate the daily operations of the Home, including the facilities financial health, staff component, and the general well-being of residents, but that they immediately consider avenues to ensure the wellbeing and dignity of residents and ensure that adequate electricity supply and other services are restored as a matter of urgency.