Alex could lose multi-million rand hospice development
ALEXANDRA - Read up on a how a multi-million rand hospice development is in jeopardy due to a land dispute.
Alexandra and the City of Joburg stand to lose R18- to R23-million of infrastructure and services development if no resolution is found soon regarding a piece of land leased to but not used by the Alexandra Hospice and Rehabilitation Centre.
The centre’s manager, Grace Marutlulle said the centre, which operates from unsuitable premises at an old school on 2nd Avenue in Alex, received a multi-million rand grant commitment from an international donor in 2012 for the construction of a new fully-equipped and -staffed facility on the piece of land in Eastbank.
“Its development has been stalled after part of the land approved by council was annexed illegally by a business operator and the local councillors have failed to evict him,” Marutlulle said.
“The donor has now threatened to withdraw the support and we stand to lose an opportunity to have a structure where we would be able to treat double the number of terminal and chronic patients than we do at the current facility.”
She said the problem started in 2013 when the land was awarded to the centre by council’s Joburg Property Company (JPC), and the business operator, Joseph Mathebula, was simultaneously relocated by the council from Setswetla Informal Settlement to a nearby stand from where he allegedly annexed the centre’s land.
“Despite representation to council and several notices to him to vacate the stand, it seems council is unable to resolve the matter which affects us adversely, including payment of R2 000 monthly lease fees, which escalate by 10 percent annually, when we do not use the land,” she said.
Marutlulle added that the withdrawal of the grant would force the centre to lay off 60 locals engaged for the stalled construction process. “The community will lose modern facilities and qualified professionals – physiotherapists, speech therapists, social workers, in-house doctors, nurses, auxiliary staff and general workers.” This, she said, would also discourage other investors from coming aboard.
In the article, Hospice and businessman tussle for land, week ending 7 January, Mathebula claimed to have been granted temporary user rights of the land in addition to his own. He said he was angered by the council for sending him eviction notices in 2010 and 2014, and last year, reneging on the agreement. Mathebula confirmed relocating from Setswetla to give way to a council development and said he wasn’t prepared to move again as he rendered valuable services to the community and other traders.
Marutlulle said their only hope now lay with the mayor and the premier’s offices.
Meanwhile, in a statement on 22 April, the JPC and council’s Joburg Development Agency heads, Helen Botes and Thanduxolo Mendrew respectively, committed to relocate the operator from the hospice’s site within three months and to provide the hospice with a letter to this effect within a week.
