- Vandals recently slashed electricity cables at St Luke’s Day Hospice in Lotus River, leading to a two-week power outage and disruption of care for cancer patients.
- The facility has been a frequent target of theft and vandalism.
- Despite regular patrols by law enforcement, the hospice remains vulnerable.
Hospice patients receiving palliative care at St Luke’s Day Hospice in Lotus river were left in the dark after vandals allegedly slashed an electricity cable to steal copper.
The vandalism is all too familiar to staff and patients as continuous incidents have stripped buildings, which includes a law enforcement building on the same premises, of its roof and windows.
Sparks in the rain
A worker at St Luke’s Hospice, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said the cables were slashed on the weekend of Saturday 31 August and Sunday 1 September.
“Saturday it was raining, when residents saw sparks in the rain,” she recalls. “We sent a resident to go see what was wrong. There were a lot of sparks because of the rain and electricity wires so the City had to come switch off the electricity.”
According to the worker, the premises has been a target of drug users who frequent the area.
“There are a lot of drug users in the road.”
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The slashed wires meant cancer patients had to be turned away for two weeks.
“We normally see cancer patients on a Tuesday from 08:30 to 13:00 and on Mondays and Fridays social workers and grievance counsellors are at the premises,” she shared. “We couldn’t take anyone in for two weeks because of the electricity.”
Vandalism, which has been an issue for years, slowed down last year after a security guard was reportedly stationed at the premises.
“The last security was here until December and for the whole year nobody tried anything,” she commented. “The 31st of December was the last and as soon as the security left the vandalism started again.”
‘No budget’
According to the worker, the security guard who was employed by the City of Cape Town was removed because there was not budget to employ the guard this year.
“It was the City who had a security stationed there and we were told that there isn’t a budget for one.”
Since then, law enforcement officers stop at the facility on a regular basis to patrol the area but their efforts are futile, she added.
“Although law enforcement comes to pop in every day for the safety of the social workers and bereavement officers, we don’t feel safe because it is dark without lights.”
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In April last year, People’s Post reported on the repeated theft and vandalism at St Luke’s Hospice after their charity shop was vandalised.
At the time hospice daycare coordinator Nadia Emjedi said vandals had been targeting the premises stealing “anything and everything”, from burglar bars to wires and light beams to doors, bricks, windows and security gates.
“Hospice is an organisation that works for its own funds, so it is hard to still pay for security,” said Emjedi.
The facility, which is not an in-patient facility, has daycare patients on Tuesdays.
“Security is desperately needed.”
Questions sent to the City of Cape Town on Wednesday 4 September are yet to be answered.
Meanwhile, Grassy Park police spokesperson Capt Wynita Kleinsmith confirmed that cases of vandalism at St Luke’s Day Hospice had previously been reported, however police were unaware of the most recent incident.
