Categories: Local News
| On 6 years ago

Child Welfare South Africa ‘forgets’ to pay for storage

By CNS Reporter

Child Welfare South Africa owes R14 635 to U-Store City after failing to pay for two storage units they rented from the company for more than a year, Kempton Express reports.

Owners of U-Store City say they are left with no choice but to discard the items, as they are losing other business.

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Tinus Smit, owner of U-Store City, said child welfare’s head office was obliged to pay R1 300 a month for the two units.

“They signed a contract in May 2016 at a discounted rate of R650 a unit and stopped paying in June last year. Every time there were excuses and there was always a new person in charge. We have been sent from one person to the other,” said Smit.

FILES of different provinces, owned by Child Welfare’s national office, are being stored in the units.

Smit said he went to Kempton Park Child Welfare on Maxwell Street for help with the contact details of the national office, but said they could not be any of assistance, as they also struggled to contact them.

After commenting on Facebook on a story written by EXPRESS about Kempton Park Child Welfare, Smit said he managed to get in contact with the director of the local society, Makha Thusi, who apparently promised to put Smit in contact with the national office.

Smit said if he did not hear anything from Thusi by the end of this week he would be forced to dispose of the items, which were mainly files.

EXPRESS spoke to the acting executive director of Child Welfare South Africa Danny Obai who said he had only been told about the matter last week, and said child welfare was trying to reach Smit to pay him.

TINUS Smit shows one of the many important files that have been left in his storage since last year June.

“Management who was in charge in the beginning was dismissed earlier this year and we didn’t know about this matter. We only found out in an email that came from Kempton Park Child Welfare.

“So, we will try to contact Smit, remove the items and pay him the outstanding amount. We did not know anything about it and this is why he was never paid,” he said.

Obai said some of the documents may be disposed of, as most had been stored electronically. Some of them may not be that important as copies may be available.

He said Child Welfare South Africa has moved to Midrand.

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