Social housing has come under the spotlight as allegations are surfacing that a promise once made by officials is still waiting to be fulfilled.
This came to light after a group of residents took to the streets at the beginning of March with the intention of making their concerns heard.
Their outcry is that they have been promised that their lease agreement would be converted into ownership after a particular amount of time under the specific agreement.
According to the group of residents, the people living in social house apartments and flats all over Gauteng are governed by two different contractual agreements, one where renting is subsidised and would later be converted to ownership and the other where renting is continuous with no prospect of ownership.
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The group of residents who formally call themselves Uprising of Joburg Complexes consists of several residents who have been residing in different complexes from all over Joburg who have converged under a common purpose to fight for housing ownership.
During the beginning of March, the group consisting of more than 50 residents from different complexes took to the streets of the CBD and marched to Mandela Bridge headed to the Metro Offices to hand over their memorandum of grievances to the department of housing.
“We went there with the intention of handing over our memorandum to the mayor but we didn’t find the mayor but instead we found the Speaker and the MMC.
“In the memorandum our main issues were being afforded ownership and we are pleading with the department to stop evicting people because that is the main burning issue right now, people are being evicted and are left with nowhere to go,” said Teboho from Jabulani Views.
Thus far, the MMC did not respond to them directly but Joscho and Madula Mmoho housing management agency has responded to them stating that there is no prospect of ownership.
Going forward, Uprising of Joburg Complexes is planning to go on a follow up march to the MEC and try change the minds of authority.
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