[imagesource:careweavers]

Two adults in the care of a private care facility in Roerfontein, near Tzaneen, were discovered shackled by their wrists and feet during a visit by Limpopo MEC for Social Development Florence Radzilani this week.

During the inspection, the MEC also found that the home had been operating illegally, and demanded that it be shut down immediately.

Social workers and officials from the Limpopo Department of Social Development are now working to reconnect many of the people with their families, while patients whose relatives are unable to be found will be sent to other authorised facilities.

Radzilani led the delegation to the Vutlhari Old Age Home and Hospice for disabled and elderly people following serious allegations of neglect and inhumane living conditions. The issue was first brought to light after the Conty Lebepe Foundation went to the centre in August after complaints from residents living nearby.

According to the owner of the centre, the patients were in chains because they were violent and chaining them was the only way to manage their care.

Besides treating the vulnerable people in their care, the centre allegedly also messes with their SASSA benefits, as one of the patients reportedly told Groundup:

“I am wondering what is going on with my disability grant for the past two years. The owner of this centre is holding my South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) card.”

“We do not get enough food and at times I need to buy food for myself but cannot access my SASSA card.”

Relatives of the patients (sounds more like hostages really) told authorities that the conditions at the care centre is appalling.

“My relative has been there for months, and we discovered that the residents are not being fed properly. The entire facility is a threat to human lives. We urgently asked the department to intervene and relocate them to other centres.”

Groundup’s visit to the site corroborates the horrific stories some community members tell.

The building is deteriorated, with virtually all of the windows shattered, missing ceiling boards, and exposed electrical wires in several rooms. There are nine rooms in total, including a kitchen and a pantry, and some of the mattresses are falling apart. On top of this, there were only two outdoor pit toilets, without doors, both of them filthy.

The owner, Pheko Baloyi, has been running the facility since 1998 and claims to have all the necessary documents to operate legally. However, the department revealed that it stopped funding the facility back in 2016 when Baloyi failed to account for the funding he had received from the department.

Baloyi further claimed that the loss of funding from the government forced him to seek donations, and at times there was not enough food for the patients, meaning he had to rely on their SASSA grants to foot the bills.

This brings back painful memories of the Life Esidimeni tragedy and makes us question how many of these heinous establishments still exist in South Africa.

[source:groundup]