/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

72 frail care and disabled patients have nowhere to go and will now be homeless with no access to proper nursing care as Tswelopele Frail Care Centre will officially be closing its doors on 31 March due to the Gauteng Department of Social Development’s (DSD) failure to rescue this centre.

This Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) based in Hillbrow, Johannesburg will be shutting its doors after operating for 17 years providing 24-hour residential frail care, social work services, respite care and safety beds.

This centre also offers learning opportunities for the auxiliary social work and nursing auxiliary students and academic final year medical students.

In addition, 55 staff members of Tswelopele will be left jobless with no income to sustain themselves and their families.

This is a great loss to the community as well as students and aspiring students in this field as they will not have an accessible centre for them to do practical work.

Tswelopele is faced with a severe financial challenge and is unable to pay its rental fees and R3 million is now outstanding. They have been engaging the department requesting assistance since 2019. Tswelopele has only once received feedback from the department after a year of acknowledging their email and the department promised to revert back with a solution. There was no further correspondence from the department despite several requests from Tswelopele.

This centre is receiving a subsidy from the department and can no longer afford the rental fees. It is now forced to shut down and alternative accommodation is needed urgently to house 72 frail care and disabled patients.

Surprisingly, the DSD receives quarterly reports, six-monthly reports, and monthly claim forms from Tswelopele, yet has never once tried to intervene or assist them with their financial challenges. This indicates that the department is failing in its responsibility to monitor and evaluate services rendered by the NPOs and NGOs.

Tswelopele was just left to die a slow death by the department.

Once again, the department has shown that it has no empathy for the destitute that are solely dependent on the government for survival. It is sad as the department constantly underspends on its budget and hundreds of thousands of Rands that are returned to Treasury could have been used to rescue NPOs and NGOs in dire need of financial assistance.

The DA demands that DSD provides training workshops to the NGOs and NPOs across the province in financial management to assist them on how to manage their finances as most of them are facing severe financial challenges. The department should also workshop them on the services and support they are offering to NPOs and NGOs so that they can be aware as most of them are unaware as to what the department can and cannot do.

The DA has engaged with Tswelopele management to ascertain how they can be assisted and to ensure that the department intervenes.

We have written to the Gauteng MEC for Social Development, Morakane Mosupyoe and the Head of Department (HOD) to ask for their urgent intervention and to ensure that 72 frail care and disabled patients are offered alternative accommodation.

We will continue to monitor where these frail care and disabled patients will be relocated to. We want to ensure that the Life Esidimeni tragedy, where 144 patients died due to the government’s negligence does not happen again.

Issued by DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Social Development, Bronwynn Engelbrecht MPL