Alexandra residents fighting to occupy the City of Johannesburg container homes in Marlboro might have to wait a little longer before they are allocated the units.
MMC for Human Settlements Mlungisi Mabaso said he would only allocate the container units, that have been unoccupied for almost four years, after refurbishing and declared safe by engineers.
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The container homes were built as temporary Covid-19 shelters in 2020 and residents were promised that the building of the containers would take six months but they have never been occupied.
This issue was recently in the spotlight when EFF PR councillor Moshe Mphahlele was fatally shot during a scuffle between law enforcement and residents. This was after authorities allegedly forcefully removed residents who had invaded the homes after complaining that the city was taking too long to allocate the units.
“These units got invaded and the city was able to evict [invaders] earlier this year. After that, we obtained interdicts for all the sites to prevent further invasions.
“Today we are here because we need to assess the damage. After we have assessed the damage, then we need to fix whatever is broken because we need to allocate at the end and we understand the frustration from the community,” Mabaso said.
Mabaso added the site had been under construction for almost four years and had been marred by challenges and impatient residents who had tried to forcefully move into the units.
“It becomes a problem when you push people to illegally occupy structures that are not complete; you are placing their lives at risk. Should anything happen then who should be accountable? That’s why we need to engage with the public. The units are not ready for occupation,” he said.
Johannesburg Social Housing Company (Joshco) CEO Nokwazi Mtshali said they visited the site after the latest evictions and conducted inspections.
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“We understand the frustration of the community. The project has been going on for some time, over the last four years we have been on the ground.
“As the Johannesburg Social Housing Company implementing on behalf of human settlements, we are committed to finalising the project so that we can get the project handed over to the city’s Human Settlements Department for occupation,” Mtshali said.
He added during the assessments, it was established there was minimal damage to the units which included broken doors and damaged geysers.
One of the community leaders Harry Modiba, who has been at the forefront of the fight to occupy the container homes, said residents couldn’t wait any longer.
Modiba said they submitted a memorandum to Mayor Dada Morero the previous week. “It is very difficult to find a proper home in Alexandra. There are no places where we can stay so this is the only place that they have built for us and we need to move in,” he said.
Another community representative Lazarus Lefika said, “They are telling us about renovations. What are renovations when people have stayed here before? There is no danger here; they stayed here for two months. Why has no one died in these containers in that time?”
Lefika concluded renovations were just a luxury and people allocated to the units could repair any damage there might be.
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