Centre for disabled children closes

A day care centre that looks after children with disabilities was effectively shut this week, leaving many desperate parents stranded. The Association for the Physically Disabled (APD) centre in Markman industrial area near Motherwell was formed in 2006 to accommodate disabled children from poor backgrounds. The centre was looking after 30 children from Motherwell. It is in the process of retrenching its nine full time staff members.

Brian Bezuidenhout, APD’s chief director, said he had been running the organisation at a loss for more than five years. He cited lack of support from government and the surrounding communities as factors in the closure. He said the disabled children would either have to stay at home or go to poorly equipped centres.

“We have already given notice that we are shutting down. It is purely a matter of finance. The project is very close to our hearts. It is a very expensive operation to run when you are dealing with disabled children.”

Bezuidenhout said the centre provided medical and therapeutic services, teaching and two daily meals, which Bezuidenhout described as “healthy and balanced”. It also provided transport on a specially adapted bus with a wheelchair hoist. The children were collected from their homes and returned home at the end of the day. “The public transport system in Nelson Mandela Bay is completely inaccessible to children with disabilities,” said Bezuidenhout.

Bezuidenhout also operates a centre for disabled people in Port Elizabeth’s North End that employs more than 100 disabled people. It has been subsidising the day care centre. “I have to look at the bigger picture. Suddenly we don’t have this money to fund that anymore. We are in a situation where we are actually trying to keep 100 people with disabilities in work. I had to take a horrible decision. How would I fund that gap? … Business and government have a responsibility to fund vulnerable people,” he said.

Bezuidenhout said that his efforts to get help from the Department of Social Development were fruitless. He said the department was only paying a daily grant of R17 per child.

A parent with a four-year-old at the centre said: “We don’t have another centre nearby that caters for little children. I will be forced to go to the northern areas, meaning all my child’s disability grant will be spent on transport and school fees. We are now desperate.”

The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development did not respond to phone calls or an email requesting comment.

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