The Izinduna in Gauteng have decried the abhorrent and dilapidated state of many of the hostels in the province. They have called on Gauteng Premier,David Makhura, to put emphasis on their rehabilitation when he delivers the State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Monday.
They have threatened to embark on protests if their demands for improved development of hostels are ignored.
A number of hostels in Gauteng are yet to be renovated and turned into family units as per government’s vision. In many of them sewer overflows, there are no windows, the roof leaks, and the grass is overgrown, attracting rats and mosquitoes.
“We are asking that when the Premier delivers his speech, he must touch on the issue of hostels and what his plans are for them. If not, we will take to the streets because that is the only language that government listens to. It is not that people don’t want to protest about this, we as leaders prevent them from doing so. But if we let them go ahead with their protest, Gauteng will be ungovernable,” says Secretary of the Izinduna in Gauteng, Vusi Zwane.
Government facing procurement, supply chain challenges
The Gauteng Human Settlement Department’s 3rd quarter performance report for the 2021/22 financial year shows that of the 37 planned targets, only 12 were achieved, while five are said to have been partially achieved.
However, 20 of the targets were never achieved, especially with regards to the issue of hostel rehabilitation. With a total budget of more than R5.9 billion, as at December last year, just more than R3.4 billion was spent which translates to 57%.
The Department’s Deputy Director General, Nomfundo Ngwenya, briefed the Gauteng Legislature’s Steering Committee on Human Settlements.
“Concern is more on the housing units specific to our legacy projects. Where we would not achieve, you will note that also procurement in terms of the private sector, your service stands, specific to what we needed to acquire from the private sector, your hostels, your family units that needed to be constructed specific to hostels,” says Ngwenya.
Deputy Director General Planning and Property Management in the Department, Ngoako Molokomme, has blamed this on challenges in the supply chain processes.
“The hostels, indeed there has been a problem of supply chain. That is an internal problem. It is within our control because officials that are in supply chain fall under the CFO. So the CFO, when he comes in, most of the contracts were expiring and my understanding was that they had to review the database and so on. And that had a serious impact on all other programmes besides the hostels. We will start to move faster in the next financial year,” says Molokomme.
‘We cannot pay rent for refurbished hostels’
It is not that government has not done anything in terms of the refurbishment of hostels into family units. A number of them, including Soweto’s Dube, Mzimhlophe, Diepkloof and Meadowlands hostels were upgraded at a cost of R230 million but some stand empty and others vandalised.
But, how does Zwane respond to claims that Izinduna are barring people from entering and renting these properties?
“It is government; they did what they did without consulting us. If they say for instance a person has to pay R5 000 to stay there, I do not work and I have been living there, how will I afford that new property. Government is building RDP houses, people live for free in those houses. But, when they build for us they want us to pay to live in those new units,”says Molokomme.
The focus will now turn on premier Makhura to find out what he intends to say regarding the vacant and vandalised hostels and the plans to revamp them into family units that can be accessible to all regardless of their economic status.
