Ian Ollis MP for the Sandton-Alex Constituency and Shadow Labour Minister writes:
During the budget vote in Parliament in 2016, the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu spoke about the hostels saying, “We have come to the determination that they are a very painful relic of the past.” However, her actions in this regard show very little interest in helping the men and women of Alexandra.
The City of Johannesburg Engineers published a report on the unsafe living conditions of the Madala Hostel in 2011, which found that this hostel was unfit for human habitation, and condemned it for demolition.
A reported 5 000 people still live in this building [post] 2011. Since then, a fire ripped through the building burning a large portion of the roof off and severely damaging the top floors.
The SA Human Rights Commission demanded an investigation into the matter. “In not longer than six months from the date of this finding (2014), that the Minister of Human Settlements establish a task team to investigate the reform of hostels of this nature on a nationwide basis and the commission is provided with regular reports on the investigation undertaken by the task team.”
My colleague, councillor Andrew Cadman has repeatedly asked the SAHRC for reports on the matter, which have never been forthcoming. I wrote Parliamentary questions to Sisulu regarding Madala and Helen Joseph hostels to which she replied: “Neither the report GP/2012/0412/KC from the SAHRC nor the 2011 report by the City Engineers and Building Inspectorate of the City of Johannesburg Metro were made available to the Department of Human Settlements.”
This shows two things: She did not have the reports and was apparently unaware of the problem, and nothing in the Parliamentary replies or her behaviour since, indicates that she is going to get the reports or act on the information which we have given her, either.
She said, “A decision was taken to demolish the existing hostel buildings which will then pave the way for construction of… new housing units.” But of course with no timelines.
My Parliamentary colleague, Makashule Gana MP has followed up with further questions to the Minister. She replied in August 2015, that “… There is no money allocated to restore the roof of the Madala Hostel due to the fact that the structural integrity of the hostel structure was compromised during the fire. Because of the fire damage, no repair work will be undertaken on the hostel.
“Hostel residents affected have been temporarily resettled in a transit facility in Marlboro and will remain there until a permanent housing solution becomes available.”
Fires come and Mayor Parks Tau shifts some people and dumps them in a transit camp indefinitely. The others must contend with raw sewage flowing through the hostel courtyards, missing windows, and missing roofs.
Is this how we treat people who work in our offices, factories and homes? It’s disgraceful. My colleague, Herman Mashaba has now gone back to the SA Human Rights Commission and again laid a formal complaint about each of the hostels and will be regularly following up with them.
Tau and Sisulu need to answer for their lack of action in this regard.
