Thousands of residents at Helen Joseph Women’s Hostel in Alex are a forgotten lot whose cry for help continues to fall on deaf ears.
Their pleas for years to successive City of Joburg administrations and major political parties have come to nought. The recent change in the City governance has again resuscitated the promise of the revamp of the women’s hostel. In the past, successive administrations have failed to spend the R8 million budget allocated for the refurbishment of the women’s hostel, the Madala men’s hostel and another one in Soweto.
With the pending 2021 local government elections, the residents anticipate the issue to be a political tool as parties jostle for their precious votes. The women’s hostel is unsightly, dehumanising and strips the women of their dignity. Most of them are pensioners who are forced into being street traders and hawkers to raise money for rent, children’s school fees and their own upkeep.
“Our condition can’t be wished on anyone even one’s worst enemy. We have been abandoned, except at election time, where promises are made and broken soon after the polls,” said Letha Molongwane, a residents’ representative. She and fellow representatives Betha Sentsho and Lydia Nyatlo narrated their sad and compounding problems whose magnitude and cost will be overwhelming if and when help does come.
The place is also home to local councillor Ambe Maseko who the women said had tried to address the issue with the authorities but had been seemingly ignored by them. “She [Maseko] was recently shoved by a young man, part of the many illegal males at the place, when she reminded him to leave the place,” added Molongwane.
This said while the three women and this reporter tiptoed over smelly water in hallways with some walls covered in disgusting graffiti. A girl was seen carrying a sibling over the water in one of the dark hallways.
“We are scared to walk through some of the dark hallways fearing the men who prowl around and from falling on the steps,” Nyatlo said. “The lights are never fixed or they only last for a short time and maintenance is done only occasionally and after long delays.”
The women pointed out entrances to some bathrooms and toilets which they said were continuously submerged in water. “They [taps] have leaked, damaged the floors and walls for years despite being reported,” Sentsho said.
Other entrances to kitchens and exit points to outside have been submerged in sewage for years.With the gas stoves dysfunctional for years, the residents can risk plugging electric appliances into suspect plug points.
Long-standing councillor Maseko said the hostel was condemned and was dismissive that any help would be forthcoming saying that it may only become a reality if a major incident occurred.
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