By Jonk wa Mashamba
And Malesela Mangena
info@alexreporter.co.za
An armed thug invited curses on himself after he robbed the Alex Alexandra Hospice & Rehabilitation Center more than R30 thousands last week.
Grace Marutlulle (81), founder & Project Manager at the center said: “Whoever did it, is curse.”
Marutlulle, a retired nurse, spoke to Alex Reporter after her two employees ( a nurse and a driver) were robbed the money belonging to patients who stay in the centre.
She said the workers had just withdrawn the old age grants belonging to the 30 patients when the incident occurred.
The incident occurred on the 04 February outside Boxer store in Alex.
“The workers were returning to the center when, all of a sudden, an armed man emerged from nowhere and demanded the bag containing money,”Marutlulle said.
“If you take from the sick, you can even take from the dead!
“People have lost conscience. That person knew what that money was for, hence I suspect that it has nothing to do with the robbery, but an inside job.”
She said they were grateful that nobody was hurt during the robbery, accept for the trauma the two workers suffered.
“We had to give them a day off due to that.”
Marutlulle added: “We have sorted the issue out with the SASA, they promised to come and issue us with new cards so that the patients’ money be directly paid into the hospice’s accounts.”
The hospice, which has been operational since 2003, has 15 nurses (collectively it has 24 staff).
The hospice, registered as an NPO, takes care of terminally sick patients and the ones with chronic disease.
its mission statement hung on the wall reads:
“To provide palliative care to all chronic and terminally ill citizens in Alexandra and surrounding areas.
“The aim is to root out the stigma so that they regain the dignity that they deserve.”
If people want to support the hospice, they can call Grace Marutlulle on 073 145 0289 or 011 440 3525.