OLD PEOPLE'S HOME THREATENED OVER DEBT

Chitungwiza Municipality has threatened to sue Bumhudzo Home for the Aged over non-payment of a $13 419,59 rates bill that accumulated over the years.

A final letter of demand sent to the institution from the office of the council’s finance director indicated that “failure to settle the outstanding bill would result in council proceeding to institute legal proceedings without further notice, the costs of which shall be borne by you (Bumhudzo)’’.

The demand comes after efforts by the home to appeal for cancellation of the bill, which has been attracting interest on a monthly basis.

The home for the elderly has pleaded for exemption from paying service charges.
Bumhudzo is a home for aged persons of no fixed aboard and it first opened its doors in 1974 as African Aventide Home.

Due to economic challenges, the home has been forced to reduce its staff from 16 to just five and it has also had to fight court battles with the 11 affected workers over non-payment of salaries.

In normal circumstances, the home should give shelter to 110 inmates, but its financial situation has 
compelled it to accept only 30, which it is struggling to take care of. About 18 of the inmates are entirely dependent on complete assistance for issues such as bathing themselves.

Traditionally, Bumhudzo has been relying on a monthly grant from the Department of Social Welfare, which is no longer coming.

The Salvation Army, which runs the home, disburses a quarterly grant which has not been adequate to cater for all its needs.

The demand by Chitungwiza Municipality for settlement of the ballooning bill is just but one of a plethora of problems being faced by the home, according to its administrator Salvation Army Church’s Major Chrisia Nyaruberu.

“We do not have enough to feed our inmates and when they are taken ill we have to ferry them to Chitungwiza Central Hospital because we do not have specialists who can attend to them,” she said.

“The hospital has been quite helpful in some instances, but there are services which require payment such as scans and drugs.

“As part of our plans to alleviate suffering in this regard, we once mooted the idea of establishing our own hospital at the complex, but then we could not get the funding to build it.

“We pursued the option of leasing the facility to an independent party who would renovate and pay us rentals, but also due to economic challenges, they too have not been able to see the construction through within the expected time-frames.’’

Major Nyaruberu said at the moment, they only had one nurse to attend to the sick and were relying heavily on students provided by St Johns Ambulance for attachment. Herald

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