The management, nurses, and other staff members of the Vuthlari Disabled and Hospice Centre took to the street last Wednesday after feeling that they were tired of what they called ‘empty promises’.

They then embarked on a peaceful march to the Mopani district municipal offices in Giyani to hand a memorandum to the municipal manager, Mr Edwin Nefale.

The centre, which is located at Nkuzani Village in the Hlanganani area, is the home of more than 50 people suffering from various forms of disabilities. According to the manager, Mr Pheko Baloyi, the centre takes care of terminally ill people, the blind, orphans, old-age and psychiatric patients. “We need the government to provide aid by funding the organisation. Since this non-profit organisation was formed 10 years ago, the government has not done anything to help us,” he said, adding that he had already spent over R350 000 from his own pocket trying to help the needy people of Vuthlari Disabled and Hospice Centre.

When Mirror arrived at the centre, it was a shame to see a number of disabled children crawling around on a dusty surface. Baloyi further indicated that they were now demanding a number of things, one of which is a proper and improved building capable of hosting a number of disabled people as they now had to make do with a small space.

He acknowledged that more than 500 disabled people should be at the centre, but they cannot accommodate them, due to insufficient housing. Another major crisis at the centre is the lack of vehicles and they experience difficulties to transport the disabled people to clinics, hospitals and other necessary places when they are ill.

Unavailability of important basic health facilities and medication, according to Baloyi, is another challenge for the physically handicapped people of Vuthlari. In the memorandum, they also demand office equipment for administrative purposes, wheelchairs and beds for the disabled.