Durban - Hundreds of furious pensioners waited up to 12 hours for promised eThekwini Municipality Christmas food hampers in Chatsworth on Wednesday, causing some to faint and tempers to flare.
“It is chaos,” said Balan Pillay, 74, when a Daily News team arrived at a Woodhurst hall on Wednesday night.
“The problem here is that the whole thing is not organised properly. The volunteers who were supposed to help senior citizens were treating them very badly. I have been here since 8.15am. I am very, very angry right now.”
Pillay said because of the long wait many of the elderly residents had to walk home late at night. “There is so much crime in the area, they can get raped along the way home.”
An angry Kalie Soorsuthy, 64, said she had been waiting for the hampers since 9am. “I am very tired right now. They never told us why they did not come.”
She said they expected to get the hampers by 1pm, but by 7pm she was still waiting. The Daily News witnessed food parcels being brought in at 8pm.
But while there were about 600 pensioners waiting, the hampers arrived sporadically in a single bakkie, instead of by truck as apparently arranged.
eThekwini Speaker Logie Naidoo, who organised the food hamper distribution, on Wednesday night distanced himself from the chaos.
“The service providers seriously let us down,” he said. “I know the hampers mean a lot to the people.”
Worth R200, each hamper consists of a chicken braai pack, tinned beans, tea, rice, cheese and oranges. Naidoo said 60 000 pensioners from 103 wards were getting the parcels.
Rashid Suleman, who owns the hall where the hampers were distributed on Wednesday, said he had to cancel an event because of the delays.
His wife, Hafiza, said: “People were getting ill, and toilets were overflowing.”
She said they had not received any communication from the municipality informing them about the cause of the delay.
“The food parcels are being brought in bakkies. They need to get their act right so something like this does not happen again,” she said.
Ward 70 councillor, Ismail Cassimjee, sounded distraught: “The service provider was supposed to deliver the hampers at 2pm. We contacted the Speaker’s office. We were told it is on its way. They then said we should wait for another 15 minutes and that is what they were saying to us the whole time,” he said.
“People are frustrated, we have had people fainting here.”
The chairman of the Silverglen Senior Citizens Club, Kenny Venkatesen, said: “The communication process from top-down needs to be improved.
“The whole evaluation process needs to be looked at again.”
This year’s programme is set to run until December 15.
Daily News