Fire highlights living conditions

Maxwell Court living conditions has highlighted living conditions of residents that calls it home.

“Service delivery protests have been on the increase across the provinces and residents of Maxwell Court are a perfect example of human rights violations,“ said Ward 82 councillor Susan Stewart.

In a letter Stewart wrote to Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO), she addresses issues that people are exposed to at Maxwell Court.

“It reeks of violation upon violation of basic human rights,” said Stewart.

“Yes we are aware of the letter the Ward Councillor has forward to us.

“But this problem at Maxwell Court has been a problem before JOSHCO has taken over it.

“We found that people are stealing the metal and selling it for money.

“The area is affected by the scourge of drugs and results in JOSHCO having to pay double for material,” said Rory Gallocher, CEO of JOSHCO.

Stewart also alleges that JOSHCO has not been maintaining the flats and years of non-maintenance have left the structure to start dilapidating.

“JOSHCO can easily cite the reasons for poor maintenance and upkeep of this Social Housing Structure, to the fact that their rental intake is far below acceptable standards but from the picture representations of the dilapidating structure, I can argue that it is still highly unacceptable based on the fact that upon inspection, it is clearly visible that this building has been very poorly maintained for excessively long periods of time.

“The route maintenance of Maxwell Court will not happen unless we have commitment from the Ward councillor and residents that a monthly payments need to be made,” said Gallocher.

Stewart alleges that JOSHCO hasn’t been maintenance of the building.

“JOSHCO has a social responsibility to deal with these issues as a matter of urgency because, not only is it an infringement of people’s rights to a safe and secure environment, but it is a death trap, created by the poor maintenance of this building, no matter what the reasons,” said Stewart.

“We do agree with Stewart that the building hasn’t been maintained but this is because it cost JOSHCO a lot of money to repair a building where monthly payments aren’t being made,” said Gallocher

Some of the problems the councillor addresses in her letter to JOSHCO:

· The wheel mechanism that holds the lift steady and allows the lift to travel up and down is housed on the roof of the building in another area that is not secured or sealed off, allowing free access to tamper with what is left of the remaining cabling holding the unstable lift suspended in mid-air.

· The spaces between the stairwells. This is another unacceptable condition of the building that also poses immediate safety risk especially to children who can easily fit through the spaces between the stairs. This too will cause grievous bodily harm or death to any child that is unfortunate to venture into this space.

· The steel staircase literally tearing away from the concrete structure. The staircase is rusted and falling apart but in my opinion, the steel staircase is a death trap in itself.

“We have sent out the lift maintenance team to go out and check it out.

“Due to it costing JOSHCO a lot to do repairs we would have to decide if we going to secure the mechanism,” said Gallocher.