Conditions at the flats get worse
Section 79 and other stakeholders conduct an oversight visit to the flats in Westbury.
Its been four months since the Speaker of the Johannesburg Council, Vasco da Gama visited Ward 69 and 82 with Chief Whip of Council, Cllr Kevin Wax, the Chair of Chairs, Cllr Alex Christians, Councillors and several Chairpersons of Section 79 to conduct an oversight visit to the flats in the area.
“The purpose of the visit was to verify the countless complaints from residents regarding the deteriorating state of infrastructure in Westbury and surrounding areas, especially the flats,” said Da Gama at the time of the oversight.
Donovan Nobles, who is a resident at the flats stated his concerns of the property getting worse by the day. Rizanne McDonald from Bashier flats has been a resident there for twenty-six years said: “We had a problem on September 8 at 2 am the stairs collapsed so there was a man that came pass and the concrete almost fell on his head.
“There are also cracks in the walls. So, when we woke up we saw that the stairs are falling apart and my concern is that anyone can get hurt at any time and we don’t know when or how but it’s going to happen.
“When there’s a strong wind it blows the loose parts off so we living in fear here. I also have small children here with me and the neighbours are very old, I also have my father who is very old, if something happens how will we get them down?”
The resident stated that they report to councillors what’s happening but don’t get help as residents there do not pay rent. Another resident by the name of Joe Bosman has been a resident for over forty years at Gregory Flats.
Bosman explained: “In my younger days it was fine living here but as I get old living here is not good anymore.” When asked when last council sent officials to inspect the property, Bosman said that they came about three to four years ago and they put bars to close off a corridor which seems to be caving in.
“They said they going to come back but they didn’t. They repaired the other flats but they just didn’t come back here,” added Bosman.
According to Lillian Kolisang who is the spokesperson to the Speaker of Council, there was a meeting that was held immediately after the oversight visit with all relevant stakeholders. The Speaker chaired this meeting, and he requested all the departments responsible for service delivery in the area to provide feedback or report on work that is going to be done to remedy the situation in the flats.
“The speaker subsequently called various director’s to provide feedback on status, and Housing Director has indicated that out of a total of 437 units (flats) in Region B, 419 were transferred to the occupants with title deeds and only 18 units are now City-owned.
“This basically means the majority of the flats are now privately owned therefore maintenance will be at the occupants own cost; whereas the remaining 18 units will be maintained by the City. The Speaker has escalated these issues to the MMC for Housing, Cllr Meshack van Wyk.
“In his report, Director Hannes Davids described the state of the building as deteriorating and says that rental payment from occupants is far from desirable and acceptable and due to lack of sufficient funding very little can be done with regard to repairs and maintenance.
Other departments like Pikitup and Parks department indicated that they are servicing the areas: grass cutting and waste removal,” explained Kolisang.
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