The DA locked old people in at Annie Burger Retirement Village from September 11 for four days, so it seems apartheid is back in this village.
On September 11, two men from a certain population group had a disagreement about the pedestrian gate to the bus stop being open or kept closed during the day. This gate has been a bone of contention for several years since the illegals flooded Annie Burger and drugs, theft, abuse, bribery and corruption have become a norm.
A few people from the same population group, which include Clr Stuart Marais, went to the gate with a new chain and locked the gate without consulting the legal tenants or management in a typical apartheid style.
They show disrespect for all the population groups.
I phoned Marais on the evening of September 12 and requested him to have a meeting with the residents because what they had done was done without consulting us. A meeting was scheduled for September 15 and he would contact Prof W Job (who is a councillor and Marais reports to him) to confirm.
I requested 10 posters I could put up so everyone would be aware of the meeting. Not everyone has cellphones with WhatsApp but this was never done. Instead, it was put on the group.
These actions, locking the gate and not being notified properly, caused a lot of stress, dissatisfaction and anger to the aged who are disabled and generally weak. Their safety was not taken into consideration. The meeting took place at 13:00 and about 40 people who use the gate attended. Job led the meeting and Marais.
When Job opened the meeting and told us that it would last about 15 minutes and they were under instructions to lock the gate, the meeting erupted and became very volatile and went nowhere ending in chaos.
No democratic principles were adhered to and they were autocratic, not listening but telling us. One of the residents sent a WhatsApp message to Madupe, who seems to be in charge, to find out if he had given any instruction to lock the gate. He knew nothing whatsoever.
I would like to thank Madupe for his prompt intervention by sending a message to Marais to open the gate immediately. Madupe on behalf of the residents using the gate, we say thank you.
After the meeting, the lady who sent the message received a voice call from Marais stating that he wanted nothing further to do with Annie Burger.
We don’t want anything to do with DA, we call them Autocratic Alliance if that is the attitude they show towards the old and retired. Promise, promise and no action and respect, just to ensure their ticket and the gravy train.
This incident is a clear indication of the lies and deceit of the AA or DA members.
Many complaints have been lodged at meetings against our manager and security. I say there is nothing wrong with them. Hell is defined as follows: to have all the responsibility without authority.
The illegals, together with drug bribery, corruption and theft have been major problems for years. The pedestrian gate is not a problem, the problem is inside Annie Burger and not outside.
In the Southern Courier edition (July 19) was an article that stated: Senior citizens want old age homes to be safe.
In this article, Thabile Mbele from Human Settlements Department said: “We will take relevant steps to evict the illegal occupant with immediate effect.”
Was this done? If so, can you please assist Annie Burger? There is 30 plus of them causing havoc and it is getting worse by the day. I wrote to all relevant people, from ground level to the Premier, and all I got was silence.
Our beautiful country as per Mandela’s dream of a rainbow nation is no more. We like to believe that we have the best Constitution in the world, but it seems it applies only to the rich and criminals and not law-abiding people. We as old people have no rights, every right we should have is ignored.
Our black brothers and sisters give us no problems at Annie Burger. As they pass on or go away they are replaced by other population groups, they are now by far the minority. This is ‘disgusting’ apartheid; segregation is back.
Annie Burger seems to be reserved for the ‘rich and famous’, not for the needy.
I would like to thank all the people at the meeting on September 15 who stood together as one. Let’s carry on doing it in future meetings to achieve our goal to be safe and have a happy future. I would like to appeal to all old age facilities in Gauteng that are experiencing the same problems of drugs, illegals, fraud, corruption and abuse and false promises to contact me on 071 192 8299 so that we can assist and form an action group to get all our rights back and be respected.
Can we start communicating at all levels, please? Silence gets you nowhere, to talk you can achieve everything.
Hennie Oosthuizen
Response from Ward 54 Clr Stuart Marais
The gates of the retirement village were closed for the safety of the elderly. This was due to a resident being robbed by two ladies who had gained entrance to the lady’s unit posing as workers from the local hospital. This resident’s unit is situated very far from the gate. The risk is from the small gate which is always open during the day and unmanned. This is a weak link in security.
Many of the residents were happy that we had closed the gate as their units are close to the small gate. I made this decision because, in my opinion, the safety of the aged is more important than the additional distance of about 400m to the bus stop. Life is a far higher priority.
The other residents from the other retirement village have to walk about 600m to the bus stop as they have no other option. As always, the residents feel they know better and after consulting with them we had opened the gate and the security company now has the task to control the gate. We can only hope that the security company does a good job and that the four guards that they have allocated to Annie Burger stay the same.
The sad thing is that the guards have no shelter against the elements, as they must sit on makeshift chairs and have no protection at all which on its own is a human rights violation.
We have now made the residents the custodians of their own safety in consultation with the security company.
I wish to state that we tried to do what was best for the elderly but they did not appreciate that and felt aggrieved about having to walk a further distance.
I sadly can’t say much if anything happens to the elderly and now must leave it purely in their hands as they took this decision. I was going to consult with them to see if the majority felt this way but we had a small group who attended the meeting and were determined that the gate must be open.
That is how it has been left now.
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