Hospice and businessman in tussle for land, no resolution yet
ALEXANDRA - The Alexandra Hospice and Rehabilitation Centre is in a bitter tussle for land with a local businessman which both have seemingly been allocated to use by the Joburg City Council.
The Alexandra Hospice and Rehabilitation Centre is in a bitter tussle for land with a local businessman after both parties were issued with letters from the city council allowing them user rights to the same piece of land.
This has created concern for all involved, with the centre’s respective services for terminally-ill patients impacted negatively on the one hand, and the business owner’s customers and daily business operations being affected on the other.
The land in dispute is along Lenin Drive in Eastbank. The matter has seemingly been attended to by several council officials since 2010 but is still unresolved. The centre has been pressing for a resolution after it was granted a nine-year lease agreement by the Joburg Property Company for which it has been paying R2 000 in monthly rentals since 2014. The centre’s manager, Grace Marutlulle, said the site, which was a struggle to obtain, was ideal for their future plans of having their own premises which would allow the centre to increase the number of patients to 60 from the current 30 at their current location, a former school on 2nd Avenue. “Our services are in demand and include terminally-ill people from elsewhere who we can’t take in without more space. Also, we risk losing a grant for the construction of the facility from an Indian foundation,” Marutlulle said.
She added that the businessman who was allocated an adjacent piece of land allegedly encroached on theirs. “We sought the intervention of local councillor, Joyce Ngwenya, and some senior council officials but there hasn’t been any resolution. We now intend to approach the MEC for Human Settlements and Co-operative Governance, Jacob Mamabolo, to end the saga which is costing us financially without [us] benefiting from the land.”
The businessman, Joseph Mathebula, said he was also granted temporary rights to the piece of land in addition to one he was allocated. Mathebula said he was irked by city council sending him three letters of eviction in 2010, 2014 and last year which, he said, reneged on their agreement. “The latest council official to visit me was surprised by the developments I have made to the piece of land and promised to take the matter back to council for their further consideration,” Mathebula said.
He said he relocated to the piece of land from Setswetla Informal Settlement to give way to other council development initiatives. “I am not prepared to move again as I render valuable services to the community and traders.”
The saga continues.
