No changes have been made to improve the living conditions for the council-owned flat residents at Karachi Court in Actonville, according to Elaine Erasmus.
Erasmus has lived in the facility for over 28 years.
“When I first moved here the living conditions were okay and we were grateful for the rental price as it was affordable for our budget.
“However, since then we have not seen many improvements. Our service delivery is non-existent and we are in constant battle with the metro to do repairs.”
She highlighted that for four years she had been waiting for the metro to repair the water pipe in her bathroom, as it had been leaking and they are unable to use the geyser.
“Many people have come to my flat to take pictures and the metro is aware of the issue, but nobody has come in to repair it.
“We have resorted to using the basin to bath, but the wall is so damp that there is mold all over it, of which we had tried to paint over but it had made no difference.”
While there are many issues in Karachi Court, Erasmus highlighted the following as major concerns:
Refuse removal
Residents do not pay for water or waste removal services and there has been a battle with the waste department as the metro does not pick up the waste as often as they should.
“We have a skip in the yard where we dispose of our waste.
When the skip is full, residents throw their waste next to the skip, while others have resorted to throwing their waste from the top floor.”
Cleaning
According to Erasmus, the metro had employed two full-time caretakers to ensure the yard and staircases are clean.
However, since the start of the pandemic, they had not returned.
“We have to clean the staircases and areas surrounding our flats by ourselves.”
Lifts
“The metro had installed new lifts but they haven’t been handed over to residents. This has been a struggle for many of the residents who live on the top floors. People have now vandalised the lifts.”
Security
The flats have no security.
This had been a problem for residents as vagrants have been sleeping on the grounds at the flats and nobody can ask them to leave.
“Young children are also seen on the staircases doing drugs and making residents uncomfortable. Our ward councillor has been made aware of the problem and he had come out to speak to the children multiple times but that has not stopped them.”
Vacant flats
The City Times walked through the flats at the court and saw that there were indeed vacant flats in the court.
Erasmus highlighted that those flats had remained vacant for a while and people have been entering the flats to do drugs and vandalise the property.
“I believe if those flats could be filled then it would discourage people from destroying the property and reduce the crime rate in the court.”
She added she is living with young children and while they are grateful for a place to stay, she feels the surroundings are not child-friendly due to the lack of service delivery and other factors that have not been resolved.
The City Times had sent an enquiry to the metro and is awaiting comment.
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