Unpleasant conditions for residents living at the council-owned flats in Eldorado Park, extension 4
Many of these residents are unhappy with the state of the flats as the infrastructure deteriorates, they have to try to fix some of the issues themselves.
Janet Faver, Gloria Andrews, Veronisha Koopman, Laverne Gangad, Marcia Barends, Eileen Jacobs, Brenda Meintjies, and Arelene du Plessis are just a few residents that are living at the council-owned flats in Eldorado Park, extension 4.
Many of these residents are unhappy with the state of the flats as the infrastructure deteriorates, they have to try to fix some of the issues themselves. According to Faver, who lives at Ian Flats, she claimed that the maintenance of the flats has always been an issue. Moving from flat to flat, it was clear that many of these residents faced similar issues in their units. Broken taps, leaking pipes, drains overflowing, damp walls, holes in ceilings, and loose window frames were just a few of the common issues in the units.
“I had to wait for nine months for a plumber to come out to my flat, once they came to fix the pipe, the leaking started again. It seems to me that the leak is coming from upstairs and now the wall that the pipe is attached to is falling apart because it is constantly wet,” said Faver.
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Another resident showed us that she had broken taps, which is wasting clean water on a daily basis, she claimed that the issue has been reported but no one came out from council to fix the taps.
Some residents admitted that the council did replace a few baths, and pipes or toilets but some issues still remained. Koopman added that since 2018 the roof sheets have been lifting up when the wind blows, this is due to the damage of the wooden beams.
The resident had to get someone to tie the roof down with a rope to prevent it from completely lifting and blowing away. Du Plessis shared that the window frames are so loose that when it rains the water comes in, and even now during winter, the cold wind comes through the frames.
Ward Councillor Fazel Jaffer spoke about the maintenance being a big issue, in his previous interview with us. The Cllr shared in his previous interview: “We have issues with our council stock flats, when Herman Mashaba was still the Mayor there was an R50m budget that was allocated towards trying to fix and maintain the flats but with the new budget that money was taken away. Some residents have received title deeds and some are still demanding services from local government,”
The residents that we spoke to said that they do not have title deeds on their units and will not sign for it because the maintenance will be solely on them and even though they have been fixing certain things on their own, they will not be able to afford the big emergency issues.
Cllr Jaffer said: “On the other hand, we also have to be honest, there are people who are not paying rent and are demanding services but we also understand the unemployment statuses of many residents and those who are receiving grants.” Faver mentioned that they as residents need to get together so that they can take all of their issues up with the Housing Department.
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