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.

Anthea Gray who lives with her partner Jade Coetzee in Umhlanga, Durban, 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 die.

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 shared men and women bathroom gives her anxiety and that she has lost all privacy.”

She said her mother struggles to sleep, whereas before she was evicted she lived independently and was able to care for herself.Gray said since the eviction her mother’s monthly bills has jumped from R3000 to R18000 a month.

Blaber said she had been living independently for 14 years before she was “forcibly removed” from her home and placed in a frail-care unit with the village.

“Despite having obtained two independent medical reports from a general practitioner and an occupational therapist the GPRH has refused my return to the property.

Blaber said due to the high cost of living at the frail-care centre, she will run out funds soon.

“Should I not be assisted on an urgent basis, my occupancy will run to an end at the end of August and I shall be destitute.”

Attorneys for the GPRH, said they will be opposing the application. Attorney Ruan Herbert from MLV attorneys said he can’t go io the merits of the case, but that they will be filing their opposing papers by not later than next friday.

Blaber said in her founding affidavit that  before moving to GPRH in 2010, she worked at the same retirement facility as a hairdresser.

“I resided in Durbanville prior to moving into the property. I was 77 year old in 2010, when I decided to scale down and sell my home and move into GPRH.

“I continued hairdressing until mid-2024 when I was informed by Sr. Dreyer (nursing service manager at GPRH), that the room I was utilising to provide hairdressing services is no longer available to me. Consequently, I was unable to continue earning an income in this way.”

Blaber said she is private person and has lived independently until December 2024, when GPRH came to her home and Sr. Dreyer informed me that I am now being relocated to the frail-care facility.
“For fear, I did not object and I went.”

Coetzee said he has so far spent R210 on lawyers and court papers and he is determined to see that his mother-in-law get justice and return to her place for which she m

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