Three hundred seniors living at three welfare homes on the Cape Flats will no longer be relocated as the the Ihata Shelter for Abused Women and Children has taken ownership of them from the Cape Peninsula Organisation for the Aged (CPOA).
The CPOA signed an agreement with the Ihata Shelter on Friday March 26 to take over ownership of the three welfare homes including the Oakhaven Place in Heideveld, Lilyhaven Place in Bonteheuwel, and Nerina Place in Bishop Lavis. All three homes will continue to operate as retirement homes for the 300 elderly currently living there.
In December last year the CPOA announced that those three homes would be closing and seniors would be relocated to other homes, this will no longer happen.
The Ihata Shelter, a welfare organisation has been taking care of the destitute for more than 11 years. They provide care for the underprivileged, as well as victims of gender-based violence and their children. Ihata Shelter also runs a youth development academy and their care portfolio will now extend to the elderly as well.
Sandi Gelderbloem, spokeswoman for the CPOA, said as a result of the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CPOA had been forced to reduce its welfare commitment from five to two retirement welfare homes. They will continue to operate, manage and fund Erica Place and Lotus River Place welfare homes which have 200 frail care beds in total.
“CPOA is impressed with Ihata Shelter’s ethos and mission and is confident that their elderly residents will be in very good hands and looked after by an organisation of this kind,” she said.
“Ihata Shelter is ready and prepared to continue and improve on the services to the elderly. The three homes will be transferred as going concerns and CPOA will be assisting Ihata Shelter during the transfer period,” she said.
Joshua Covenant Chigome, spokesman for Social Development MEC, Sharna Fernandez, said the department was pleased that an agreement had been reached.
“We will continue to monitor the process, and support the organisations where necessary,” he said.
Managing director of Ihata Shelter, Nuraan Osman, said residents had the choice to stay at the current facility they are at or move to another CPOA welfare facility if they so wished. She said that each resident would be consulted by a social worker with a family member present.
Chairman of the Heideveld Cape Coloured Congress, Frederick Janeke, said that he was pleased with the takeover.
He said that after consultation with various organisations to take over ownership from the CPOA, Ihata was one of them to apply.
“After researching and having known Ihata for a long time and the work that they do I am confident that they will do good and perhaps even better,” he said.
