Jerome Rhode, Bergvliet
Residents and family of Dreyersdal Park Communicare are furious about the apathy and disrespect shown towards the senior tenants.
Since the forceful closure of their community hall on Wednesday August 1, all social activities and religious intuition have halted (“Call for disciplinary action,” Bulletin, August 16)
But the free hospice work offered by the Westlake Village nurses still continues, even though residents must kneel on the foyer floors for their medical treatment.
Is Anthea Houston, the CEO of Communicare, aware of such inhumane vices?
I doubt if the state hospitals or clinics offer treatment to their patients in such fashion.
Seen kneeling on the dirty floors for their blood pressure and diabetes tests in the pictures (sent to the Bulletin) are residents Veronique Bateman and Earl Phillips.
The rest of the seniors just queue and wait their turn.
The price hike of rental units over the last few years by Communicare also culminated in many seniors seeking accommodation with their family.
Please value our seniors who have contributed towards the society we live in today.
We the seniors should also not be stealthily removed through subliminal schemes.
I am bodily crippled from an accident but mentally intact and support ethical and fair treatment.
* Anthea Houston, CEO of Communicare, responds: In an effort to improve management of the hall, new locks were being fitted.
Due to mis-communication with our tenants, the hall was locked and tenants were unable to gain access. The issue has been rectified and the hall at Dreyersdal is open for use by tenants from 9am until 4pm every day.
A new set of keys has been issued to a tenant representative. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Our seniors at Dreyersdal received a 9% annual increase. They presently do not pay for their water consumption and we are carrying these costs ourselves.
The tenants at Dreyersdal are only billed for the fixed charges introduced by the City of Cape Town.
Consideration was given to the VAT increase of 7% (from 14% to 15%); petrol by 6.5% over the past two months; water in the City of Cape Town increased by between 195% and 700% in February 2018 and again increased by 19% from 1 July 2018; electricity and building costs also continue to increase at rates above inflation.
All of these increases greatly affect our operating costs and that of our service providers and suppliers.
Communicare cares a great deal about our elderly tenants. Our social development programme includes three social workers who provide considerable support to the elderly tenants. This includes programmes to encourage them to stay active; educational programmes regarding geriatric health issues and assistance with finding appropriate care facilities when elderly tenants are no longer capable of living independently. In addition, each year we also provide additional financial concessions on the rentals of those elderly tenants who are solely dependent on the SASSA old age pension grant.
