The Presidentia Old Age Home in Geduld is still in desperate need of help to fix the property, with no support from the City of Ekurhuleni.

Residents have yet again expressed their frustration over the lack of maintenance. In the last 10 years, the Springs Advertiser has repeatedly reported on concerns raised by residents.

Johan Gross (65), a resident of the home for four years, has taken it upon himself to cut the grass on the premises.

He said that when he first moved in, people came to cut the grass, but this suddenly stopped.

“As a resident, this is not something I should be doing because this place is owned by the metro and I am too old for this. They are the ones who should be sent to come and cut the grass.”

“We have people who are the cleaners. All they do is rake the leaves. That’s all, and when I cut the grass, they don’t help,” explained Gross.

Apart from the outside maintenance, Gross shared that there are units with leaking roofs and non-working geysers.

“All we want from the city is to fix the things around here and this is going to be a nice place,” added Gross.

Another resident, Mariah Coombe (75), shared that over the last eight years of living in the home, she has conducted repairs in her unit, as well as in others.

She also cuts grass.

“Some residents are too old and frail, so when they have something broken or needs to be repaired, they call me and I help out. If we wait for the city to come and fix things, then we will wait forever,” said Coombe.

Georgina Delagey (64) has lived at the home for two years. When the geyser in her unit stopped working, she was promised it would be fixed.

“I have gone to the customer care centre several times and nothing has been done. It is hard because I have to use an urn for hot water and I fear that one day I might get burnt,” said Delagey.

Despite the tough times, local businesses have stepped up to help the residents at the home, including Herman Nelson from All Time Plumbing and Jaco Human from South African Private Protection Services (SAPPS).

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Ward councillor Charmaine Kock told the Advertiser that maintenance work has finally started at some of the old age homes in Springs after years of complaints and delays.

She added that although budgets were allocated for repairs in previous years, maintenance work was delayed because the municipality had not appointed contractors.

Kock also raised concerns about safety and security at the facilities, saying that when she took office, none of the gate motors at the Presidentia Old Age Home was working.

According to the councillor, a private sponsor later assisted in replacing and maintaining the motors, but after control was handed back to the municipality, repairs reportedly took months whenever breakdowns occurred.

“I think my pleas and complaints are finally being heard because maintenance has now started at these old age homes,” she said.