The City of Johannesburg’s Department of Human Settlement, and Johannesburg Water (JW) have responded to the enquiries over issues plaguing Marlboro’s Ward 108.
Based on recent reports on the state of Marlboro, it’s become apparent that a contributing factor to people remaining in squalor is a 1996 housing policy that simply never bore fruit for the people of the area
On May 28, the Department of Human Settlements spokesperson Neo Goba confirmed that there were people still waiting to receive housing reprieve.
Goba contextualised the non-implementation of the policy by referring to the department’s priority housing development areas (PHDA) policy.
The Greater Alexandra PHDA is one of 58 areas across South Africa gazetted in 2019 as priority areas for developing sustainable human settlements.
Through this, the Housing Development Agency (HDA) was appointed by the department to look at the housing demand, and infrastructure requirements, within the determined areas.
Goba was contacted after business operators in Marlboro had reached out to this publication in search of assistance in rehabilitating the once-industrial area. |It is now plagued by illegal cable connections, rampant water wastage and pollution, and illegal occupancy of buildings across the ward.
According to Goba, Marlboro forms part of the Greater Alexandra PHDA, and the Department of Human Settlement was not responsible for the management of illegally occupied buildings.
“This should be referred to Group Forensic and Investigation Service (GFIS) or Development Planning,” Goba recommended. He added there was a high, city-wide backlog in processing applicants for temporary relocation area (TRA) allocation, such as the recently built shipping container apartments in the ward.
Goba added there was a process to remove people who were unlawfully occupying the container apartments. “The City of Joburg has prioritised 1996/1997 applicants in its various developments across the city. Allocation will only commence upon completion of planning processes.”
In addition to illegally erected residential spaces and occupied industrial buildings, the community is also experiencing poor waste management. JW was contacted on May 7 towards gaining insight into what the utility is planning towards managing the water wastage across the ward.
“Johannesburg Water (JW) has a Pipe Replacement Programme which falls part of ongoing efforts to maintain and upgrade water and sewer infrastructure,” said JW spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala on May 21.
“The Pipe Replacement Programme is city-wide and Marlboro is also included. For the 2023/34 Financial Year, a budget has been set aside to replace 10 920m of sewer pipes.”
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