Much has been written about the detrimental health effects of long term stress. Receiving an eviction notice and being forced to leave your familiar home and surroundings would, without question, contribute vastly to this detrimental condition.
Now imagine the impact of such a notice if you are between 70 and 90 years old; if your financial resources are extremely limited; if your health is failing; and if you quite literally have nowhere else to go. This is the reality currently faced by the elderly residents of House MacMillan, who have been living under the constant threat of eviction for more than a year. In my view, it is remarkable that there have been no fatalities to date.
As often happens where you find suffering and injustice, money and greed might well be the root cause. Unscrupulous developers and estate agents appear to have forgotten their basic humanity while pursuing profit, seemingly indifferent to the very real human cost of their actions.
In many ways, this situation echoes what happened at Paradise Park and De Mond Caravan Park — yet another instance of the Overstrand effectively closing its doors on the struggling lower middle class and the elderly poor.
While this conduct may well be unlawful and amount to abuse of the elderly — a criminal case has been opened and investigated (CAS 386/07/2025), and the docket is currently with the National Prosecuting Authority — any relief that may eventually flow from this process could arrive far too late, even terminally too late, for those currently living in fear.
Equally disturbing is the silence of those entrusted with safeguarding the interests of Ratepayers. There has not been a single meaningful public intervention from local politicians or municipal officials. Not a word. Not a squeak.
There is, however, another troubling twist to this story involving our local Rotary Club, who has been intimately involved with House MacMillan since its construction. This aspect was explained to me by real-estate legal expert Riaan van Zyl, and is set out clearly in his press release on behalf of the Mollegren and the House MacMillan Action Group below.
Spare a thought for those living in fear while you enjoy your holidays.
Anton Kruger
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
19 December 2025
Communicare and The Mystic Trust are evicting vulnerable elderly pensioners from MacMillan House in Hermanus – showing absolute disregard for their circumstances.
While Hermanus welcomes holidaymakers to enjoy its beaches and festive spirit, a heartbreaking crisis is unfolding in the heart of our town. MacMillan House on Hospital Street was built decades ago specifically to provide secure, affordable homes for elderly people on low incomes. Today, only six long-standing residents remain – all elderly, all terrified, all with nowhere else to go.
Communicare, the non-profit organisation that managed the building and received the land at a reduced municipal price for this exact social purpose, sold the entire property to The Mystic Trust. The Mystic Trust – through its trustees Herman Harry Varkel, Andrew Greg Cohen, and Chanelle Botha (representing Protect Trustees (Pty) Ltd) – has turned MacMillan House into high-priced sectional title units, marketed at hundreds of thousands of rands each. These prices are utterly unreachable for pensioners surviving on SASSA grants or modest fixed incomes. The Mystic Trust has demonstrated absolute disregard for the circumstances of these old-age residents:
• They have issued eviction notices with fixed deadlines in 2025. • They ignore the fact that many tenants are in their 70s, 80s, or 90s, some with serious health issues. • They ignore the well-documented shortage of any affordable elderly accommodation in Hermanus. • They ignore decades of promises that these homes would be secure for life.
Communicare has abandoned every commitment it made to protect vulnerable elderly tenants. By selling to The Mystic Trust, Communicare has directly enabled this cruel displacement.
Legal opinion confirms that Rotary Hermanus holds enforceable rights over twelve units at MacMillan House – rights intended to guarantee lifelong secure housing for elderly residents.
Yet Rotary has taken no action to protect them.
The Mollengren and MacMillan House Action Group calls on Rotary Hermanus leadership to act immediately, before the end of this holiday season:
1. Enforce those twelve protected units without delay and halt all evictions; or 2. Transfer those rights to an independent community trust dedicated to providing permanent, affordable housing for elderly Hermanus residents.
Hermanus prides itself on compassion and community. Right now, our most vulnerable elderly neighbours face spending Christmas wondering if they will be homeless in the new year.
That is not compassion. That is betrayal.
Communicare sold out its social mission.
The Mystic Trust and its trustees – Herman Harry Varkel, Andrew Greg Cohen, and Chanelle Botha – are driving the evictions with total disregard for human consequences.
Rotary is standing silent.
Enough.
The elderly residents of MacMillan House deserve security, dignity, and justice – now.
For comment or further information:
Riaan van Zyl, cell. 0727792418,
riaanvanz@gmail.com
You can see this post on Facebook at Rotary/House MacMillan Facebook
The Mollengren and MacMillan House Action Group
