Fed up Melbourne Court residents forced to share single tap
Melbourne Court situated in Congella, was built as part of the government'?s Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to provide homes for low-earning citizens.
A BUILDING in Durban has had one tap servicing 64 families for over five years.
The Melbourne Court situated in Congella, was built as part of the government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to provide homes for low-earning citizens.
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The building is now in a derelict state, filled with squatters, crime and dilapidated infrastructure.
According to multiple residents, the water was cut-off in 2014 due to non-payment.
Not all residents were not paying their water bill, but due to their plumbing infrastructure, the water had to be cut for everyone instead of the defaulting units.
Junior Pritcy, 19, is part of a group of youngsters forming a coalition to highlight the “appalling” conditions and hopefully transform the building.
“What the youth committee was formed for is to come on board to try and get external funding, sponsor, labour and supplies, stuff that would help the building and our community. This is to get help,” he said.
For the last week, Pritcy has been firing off emails to the eThekwini Municipality, national government and businesses but due to the national lockdown, progress has been slow.
The Berea Mail was invited on a tour of the building.
From the front gate, there is no security, people can go in and out of the building without any checks.
Most of the infrastructure is old and dilapidated, the lifts have not operated for years, it is overcrowded and there are squatters living in unofficial units.
All 64 units in the 8-floor building do not have an in-house toilet/bathroom, instead these are situated in an extended ablution block on the property where every unit is assigned their own private toilet/bathroom.
There is also no water at the ablution block and residents are forced to get water from the tap downstairs and carry it to their respective toilet.
With no security, vagrants sneak in and out of the building sometimes sleeping on the roof or front porch, posing a security and health risk for residents.
“These people are throwing all their excrement over the wall. They urinate on the stairs because they don’t have access to toilets because they don’t live here,” said Pritcy.
Allan Pottier, a senior resident who has been at Melbourne Court since 2002 and is part of the building’s executive committee, said they have been trying for years to fix the water problem.
“Old people like me have to pay ‘pharas’ R5 per bucket to fetch us water whether it is to bathe or for going to use the toilet. You can end up paying over R600 a month and as a pensioner, you cannot afford that,” he said.
Msawakhe Mayisela, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson said the city will be looking into the building to find a temporary solution that would allow all residents access to water.
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