The first sectional title retirement home in South Africa

Groenwilgers is a beautiful place. Each of the 56 apartments has its own little garden and overlooks a lovely lawn along the Mooi River; a friendly home for people over 60, with a registered care unit that can accommodate about 13 patients.​
 

Groenwilgers was the very first institution in the country to make sectional title flats available to the elderly. It was the brainchild of Mr Dirk du Toit, who in the late 1970s became aware of the need for accommodation for the elderly who were not emotionally prepared to move into a nursing home in a bedroom, with only a bed and bedside table.

The government at the time was out of touch with the needs of the elderly and not prepared to build better housing for them. At private retirement resorts elsewhere in the country, residents did not have property rights and their heirs could not inherit their living units after death. As a solution to these problems, Mr du Toit decided to erect small apartments with full ownership under the brand new Sectional Titles Act. In 1981 he bought a piece of land with an excellent location along the Mooi River from the municipality.

Together with Mr Schoeman of Fleischack Attorneys, they worked through the new sectional title law and drafted contracts for the purchase of the apartments.

Architect Nardus Conradie designed the building in such a way that a long corridor connects all the apartments indoors and that all the residents can see the beautiful Mooi River every day. One Colonel Klopper prepared the stone and peat soil and built the first section of Groenwilgers. Clarrie de Villiers was later responsible for the second phase.

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This development was a completely new idea and people were initially reluctant to buy apartments. However, Theuns Kruger, a local real estate agent, sold the first apartment to his father-in-law, Judge Rumpff, the former Chief Justice of South Africa, and other buyers followed suit.

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The first manager was Janet du Toit and the first sister Hannelie Kriel. Today the reins belong to Mrs. Sandra Ströh, who manages Groenwilgers and its staff with great dedication.