The director of White Rose Hospice in eMalahleni, Ms Magda Esterhuizen was left heartbroken when she learnt that the copper pipes outside their building became a target for criminal activities.
She said this was the second time in a week that these unlawful deeds occurred at the organiSation. The unexpected discovery was made by the ward councillor of the area on Monday, June 1.
“We got plenty of problems there, even when the curfew was in place, criminals still wandered around and steal stuff that is outside the buildings. They stole the copper pipes outside the buildings twice, the first time they took some of it, and then somewhere over the weekend, they came for the rest of the pipes. Our councillor discovered these things last night, and it seems like he is going to help us.”
The director further added that the criminals who stole the pipes might be aware of the in-between “two-hour” gap of their security personnel’s shifts to begin stealing from the centre.
“We have security, but when the dayshift security goes off-duty, there is about a two-hour gap before the night time security, so there must be watching and they do it mostly during the days. They did try to break into the building itself one night,” said Ms Esterhuizen adding that area is terrible and have decided to put the building on sale as a result.
“We no longer feel safe to work around there anymore. We have put the building on the market. The building is perfect if somebody wants to open a boarding house or guest house, but we are only women who work there and it is too dangerous.”
Ms Esterhuizen said these criminal routines have also caused more pressure on their finances at the hospice as they depend more on donations to keep afloat.
“We are a charity, we serve the community and we are depending on donations to keep the organization running; it is so difficult because the businesses are currently suffering everybody is suffering so we are battling to get donations and it is very difficult financially. We are struggling and then this also happens.”
White Rose Hospice was established in 2003 when it was identified that there was a major need for basic general nursing care for the terminally ill in eMalahleni.
The centre, which is the only five-star rated hospice in the area with an in-patient unit, takes care of terminally ill patients affected by cancer and HIV Aids during the final days of life. This includes pain relief, basic nursing needs and patient and family counselling.
