No rest for the residents at the flats especially in Claremont, Newclare & Westbury
A similar situation occurred at the Bernadette flats and Emma flat where raw faeces poured out in front of tenants' doors.
With the lack of maintenance and poor workmanship with the infrastructures in our Wards, the rainy season brings many suffering and hazardous environments to many.
Although this time of the year isn’t normally known as the rainy season, the weather lately has been telling us something else. These seasons always affect residents who are living in shacks as well as those who are living in the flats especially in Claremont, Newclare, and Westbury.
On the weekend of March 23, it was raining nonstop and for those living in the flats, many experienced blocked drains, sewers overflowing, ceiling caving in and water leaking into the homes.
Garoonesa Mohamed from Fiona Flats in Newclare had her ceiling caved in. This was after seeing that the cause of the caved in the ceiling was due to the metal sheets being rusted and the rust created holes in the roof.
The family was struggling with the rain as everything got wet and they had to sleep in the cold.
“There are small children here in our house and the ceiling almost fell on us. What makes it so difficult for us is that we had to switch off our electricity box because we scared that the water will go into the box,” said Mohamed.
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The next day after sending a message to Ward Councillor Susan Stewart, an official from housing visited the family with a contractor who fixed the roof. The family was then taken care of.
A similar situation occurred at the Bernadette flats and Emma flat where raw faeces poured out in front of tenants’ doors. Thankfully the sewer was sorted out the next afternoon by the council. The bigger issue is that the flats are no longer a healthy and safe place for people to live in.
The City of Joburg has no money for relocations or any sort of major repairing, therefore, this will be a constant struggle for residents at the flats.
