MMC for Human Settlements visits Diepkloof hostel
During the visit, the MMC was joined by senior officials from the Department of Human Settlement and the Johannesburg Social Housing Company.
The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Human Settlements, Mlungisi Mabaso on August 20 visited Diepkloof Hostel to address service delivery issues including the matter of vacant units at the hostel.
This follows a series of service deliver protests by hostel dwellers which have prompted government to prioritise the refurbishment of the hostel and turn it into family units.
“We came here to conduct an oversight, to check on the progress of the work that we have undertaken in decanting the tenants out of these dilapidated structures into temporary accommodations so that we commence with the redevelopment of this particular hostel,” said MMC Mabaso.
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“Out of eleven hostels that we are managing in the City of Johannesburg, Diepkloof Hostel is one of the hostels that we have prioritised for development.
“The reason for this is that the structures here are beyond repair and they can collapse at any time, hence we identified the need for us to move with speed in starting the redevelopment.”
Although the MMC of Human Settlements has confirmed that they do not have enough space to accommodate all the people that are being moved out of dilapidated units, he gave assurance that there will be amends that will be made to accommodate them.
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“We had vacant units that we have utilised to accommodate them. It’s the houses that were constructed by the provincial government which had not been allocated, we are using those units.
“We are also engaging other members of the community to make space for other tenants, there are 148 that we still need to accommodate,” the MMC said.
MMC Mabaso also stated that Madala Hostel in Alexandra is currently undergoing the same process of demolishing structures for the actual redevelopment project to begin.
The MMC was joined by senior officials from the Department of Human Settlement and the Johannesburg Social Housing Company.
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Sibongiseni Khoza, the Diepkloof Hostel Chairman explained how happy they were to see the MMC and his team hands-on with the project.
“Diepkloof Hostel residents sometimes close down the roads not because they are violent but because they feel as though they are rejected. We are happy to see the MMC and his team showing that they care about Diepkloof,” Said Khoza.
