Family fights to reclaim a 91-year-old's cottage after her eviction from retirement home

THE family of a 91-year-old woman is in a bitter feud with her retirement home and has sought an urgent court order to get her back into her cottage that she bought at a Durbanville retirement village after she was forcefully evicted and placed into a frail care unit at the village.

- EDWIN LOMBARD

Anthea Gray who lives with her partner Jade Coetzee in uMhlanga, said she got a frantic call from her mother, telling her that people from the Green Pastures Rest Home (GPRH) came barging in, packed up her stuff and evicted her, placing her in the frail care facility that she shares with other residents.

Joan Blaber, 91, has been living independently at the Home in a cottage that she paid R270 000 for in 2010 and on which she has life rights meaning that she can live in it until she dies.

In her affidavit accompanying the court application, Gray said her mother told her that she lost a lot of weight since moving to the frail care facility.

"It has also taken a tremendous emotional toll on her. She stated that the constant noise and the shared men and women bathroom gives her anxiety and that she has lost all privacy."