Thembisa hostels in a shocking state from Ekurhuleni neglect
by Ald. Tania Campbell — DA Leader in Ekurhuleni
Date: 10 September 2021
Release: Immediate
Type: Media statement
As part of an initiative to gain first-hand experience and an understanding of the real issues that residents are facing in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE), the Democratic Alliance (DA) embarked on a listening tour of hostels located in Thembisa, Ekurhuleni.
Hostels, originally constructed to house migrant labour to work on the mines and industry under the apartheid regime, have all too often been neglected by the incumbent ANC-led coalition* in the City. The DA’s visit to these hostels bore witness to that with residents complaining about a range of service delivery issues — mainly related to the lack of maintenance and repair of the hostels.
The Enhlanzeni Hostel in Thembisa on the surface looks an example of progressive housing with solar geysers and satellite dishes dotting the roofs of the compound. Beneath the surface, however, residents complain of deteriorating infrastructure, which include broken windows, crumbling walls and leaking pipes. The community hall, to be used as a voting station in the upcoming Local Government Elections, is a dusty and dilapidated structure with broken windows boarded up with cardboard and broken locks on the doors.
When entering the grounds of the Pink & Blue Hostel, named as such due to their faded wall colouring, one is struck by the amount of litter and waste scattering the premises. A goat feeds on rubbish from an overflowing dumpster while a small fire smoulders amongst some of the discarded litter. One resident complains that the waste hasn’t been removed for over a month creating an awful stench in the area. The storm water infrastructure servicing the hostel is also highly problematic, with blockages and leaks creating stagnant ponds of sewage and waste attracting rats and insects. A resident living in the unit next to the blockage complains that she is always sick as a result of living in close proximity to the blockage.
The hostel itself is littered with broken windows, while water leaks constantly from unmaintained pipes. In one instance, flooding from a leaking pipe threatens to pool into a resident’s unit from under the door. In one of the units, a resident complains of inconsistent electricity supply and a toilet that doesn’t flush. Flies buzz around the hostel due to the unsanitary conditions.
The Castle Hostel down the road is a lot smaller and seemingly better maintained, mainly due to community efforts. Wires protruding from an open electricity box, through illegal connections, however, are a massive health and safety hazard especially to young children who were seen running through the hostel grounds. One of the units in the hostel had a complicated network of wiring feeding the electricity box in the unit, while the bath, sink and toilet were completely unmaintained and rapidly deteriorating.
The poor state of these hostels are the visual results of a Metro that has long disregarded it’s residents. A majority of the residents in the hostels said they can no longer complain because the City has simply neglected them. The lack of waste collection and the accompanying health hazard is an acute reminder of how the ANC-led Metro has completely failed to provide adequate services to these facilities. The persistent water leaks point to a dire lack of maintenance, which are set to get progressively worse with the rainy season on the horizon. In addition, the inconsistent power supply, a feature of the Metro over the last five years, has not escaped hostel residents, with many resorting to illegal connections for light and to power their appliances, and in the process placing themselves at significant risk.
The DA in Ekurhuleni will use the information derived from the listening tour to escalate the issues faced by hostel residents by placing pressure on the Metro to take action in not only conducting much needed repairs and maintenance to the hostel infrastructure, but to urgently deliver services to the hostel communities as they are constitutionally mandated to do.
It is unacceptable that residents of Ekurhuleni have to bare such poor living conditions, and it is high time that the ANC start to behave like the caring government that they claim to be.
See attached pic: DA Caucus Leader, Ald. Tania Campbell, and DA Mayoral Candidate for Ekurhuleni, Refiloe N’tsekhe, outside the Pink & Blue Hostel in Thembisa
Enough is enough!
#Time4Change
*ANC Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)
Ald. Tania Campbell
DA Leader in Ekurhuleni
083 360 1957
