Tunatazama - Community Monitors

Some company treating community bad

23 June 2020
Ikemeleng – Rustenburg
Phindile Ngobeni

On the 22nd of June I was doing round visits to hospice patients together with hospice care workers. We were checking how patients are doing and that they taking treatment.

Most of patients was complaining about taking treatment on an empty stomach especially those are not getting any social grant. They told us that food parcels are only given to special people in this community, they said if you are not ANC member you won’t get food parcels. The painful story about our patient in this community stopped drinking treatment because they don’t have food and can’t get piece job due to covid 19.

One lady between ages of 37 to 40 told us that she is working for a company called Working For Water, she says since covid 19 she hasn’t been paid because she is not going to work and she is taking heavy treatment that requires her to eat enough food. She told us now its two weeks without taking treatment, she was crying while telling us her problem.

The reason of visiting patients together with the supervisor of hospice was to see how they can help their patients, because for years they used to give them food parcels every month from food bank, now they want to try to see how they can help since people have stopped drinking their treatment. I hope and trust that they will get help. The lady who is working for company called Working for Water, she asked us why the company hasn’t paid them like other companies while still waiting to be called to report for duty, we didn’t have an answer but the hospice supervisor said she will take the matter to the office to see how they can assist