VEREENIGING – Residents of Miemie Fourie Hof, a low-cost housing scheme on Market Avenue in the CBD, say they are living in appalling conditions, with many elderly and disabled individuals struggling without proper sanitation or hot water.

Residents say virtually no repairs are being made and residents are being left to fend for themselves in the dilapidated building.

This is despite the Emfuleni Local Municipality being responsible for maintenance.

Marie Grobler (65), a pensioner who has been without a working toilet for four years, describes her ordeal: “With number one (urination) it is still okay, but with number two (defecation) you have to fill a couple of those ten-litre buckets and lift them to flush them. It is terribly painful.”

Marie, who has had shoulder surgery, finds it extremely difficult to lift the heavy buckets, but the municipality demands a doctor’s note before considering an alternative place to live.

“Why do old people like us have to live in such terrible conditions? Why are we ignored?” she asks.

Marie is not alone in her struggle. Several units do not have functioning geysers, forcing residents to boil kettles to bathe.

Georgie Aylward (73), who cares for her bedridden 99-year-old husband, Coenraad Meiring, has been waiting for a geyser for four years.

“Taking care of him without a working geyser is very difficult. When you ask for help, you are simply ignored.”

Sonja Esterhuyzen (61), who is waiting for a hip replacement, also does not have a working toilet or geyser.

“To flush my toilet, I have to fill a bucket three times. The municipality says they are bankrupt. I am bankrupt too. I only get a SASSA grant.”

The structure of the building is also worrying. During a visit, it was clear that concrete walls were crumbling, and rusted reinforcing steel was exposed – a sign of serious deterioration.

Electrical wires were hanging loose from the ceiling, and leaks in the roof led to the evacuation of the top floor.

Some residents claim the building was set to be demolished in 2012.

“They told us some of the apartments are too dangerous to live in. If that’s the case, why are we still here?” Marie asks bitterly.

Residents have appealed to civil rights groups and opposition parties for help, but say their pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears.

“Because we are old people living here, I think they are just waiting for us to die, but they are going to wait a very long time for me to die!” one resident pointedly observes.

Until the Emfuleni Local Municipality provides urgent intervention, the residents of Miemie Fourie Hof remain trapped in a nightmare of neglect and bureaucracy.

Vaalweekblad sent inquiries about the dire conditions in which residents find themselves to Makhosonke Sangweni, the Emfuleni Local Municipality’s head of communications.