The scramble for the 2016 local government elections has begun, with some political parties flexing their muscles in a bid to win Joburg – the heart and soul of Gauteng province.
This, when within a week the ANC-led provincial government and, the Democratic Alliance (DA) descended on Madala Hostel and parts of Alex – a township fraught with social decay which makes it an attractive platform to launch promise-laden campaigns.
Premier David Makhura, along with ANC MECs Lebohang Maile and Matsidiso Mfikoe, Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa and volunteers, cleaned the hostel, other sites and planted trees on 31 January as part of re-launching the government’s stalled environmental campaign.
The DA contingent, led by businessman and Black Like Me founder, the Joburg mayoral candidate Herman Mashaba, was at the hostel and other areas on 3 February to discuss housing allocations, title deeds and service delivery issues.
While Mashaba deplored the abhorrent hostel conditions to hostel leaders and some residents, the DA members canvassed other residents for membership and votes for better services through the party.
Like government officials before him, Mashaba described the conditions as akin to a pigsty. “I am ashamed to call myself South African when some people have to live under such inhumane conditions,” he said in reference to overcrowding, shared bathing and toilet facilities, broken doors and windows, missing and gaping holes in parts of the roof and, refuse a metre high blanketing part of the hostel’s exterior.
Mashaba attributed the problems to the government, which, he said, was its rewards to the residents for voting it into power. He said hordes of youth idling around were the government’s creation as it had failed to create conducive conditions for small businesses to thrive and create jobs.
He added that they had lodged a case against the government with the Constitutional Court to hold it accountable for the ailing economy which impacts heavily on poor communities.
Induna Sipho Mwelase said the residents hosted anyone who was committed to changing their unenviable conditions, which he also likened to a pigsty. “The filth, poor water, electricity and sanitation facilities cause regular illnesses and other risks, yet we voted for better living conditions. We voted for people to ensure we get essential basic services and to be part of the entire developing nation.” He said they were neglected and some of their fellow residents were moved elsewhere years ago by government – but still have not been allocated houses, unlike others in some parts of Alex and elsewhere. Mwelase indicated that the hostel was also structurally unsound and was a human tragedy waiting to happen. This after part of the roof was blown away years ago and which has not been repaired; and walls and floors in some parts of the five-storey structure are cracked due to exposure to bad weather and poor maintenance.
He implored political parties to fulfil their promises and not to treat them as voting fodder.
