Ext 9 and 10 to get visit

The Gauteng Legislature’s Petitions Standing Committee will visit the feuding residents of extensions 9 and 10, on 20 April.

This was announced by the spokesperson of the legislature, Thebe Khumalo, who said inspection in loco of the housing settlement will be led by members of the committee who were at the hearings conducted at the East Bank Hall at the beginning of the month.

The committee had been separately petitioned by landlords and tenants of both extensions who are feuding over the payment and non-payment of rent in the housing settlement.

Built in 2009 by the Alexandra Renewal Project (Arp), the allocation of houses in the flatlet land created the feudalistic system of landlord and tenant.

During the allocation of the RDP flatlets, the Arp moved people from their shacks along the banks of the Jukskei River and, based on their income levels, allocated the flatlets as RDP houses to one group, while the other group, with a higher income, was asked to occupy the adjacent ground rooms as tenants, paying a rental of R350 a month to the owners of the RDP flatlets.

This gave birth to a feud as the so-called tenants refused to pay the rent, saying they were people of the same social standing and deserved to be given the ground rooms as RDPs as well.

Initially, the Arp had said the rental arrangement was a temporary measure with a lease of five years, after which the tenants were to be moved out and allocated their own houses, but this never materialised.

On the other hand, the landlords sought to enforce the payment of rent or evict non-compliant tenants and find their own, who will obey their rules.

This statement opened a can of worms and running battles between the two groups. The previous ANC-led administration of the City of Johannesburg failed to address the matter and then the groups petitioned the legislature for a solution.

Chairperson of the committee, Refilwe Mogale said they needed to visit the site to see and hear for themselves from the affected parties and familiarise themselves with the structure of allocations before making a ruling on the issue.

Khumalo said the visit will be held on 20 April from 11am.

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