HUMAN SETTLEMENTS DEPARTMENT TO IMPROVE LIVING CONDITIONS AT MAMELODI HOSTEL VIA INTERVENTION

Living conditions at Mamelodi hostel will be improved as a result of the intervention initiative spearheaded by Gauteng Department of Human Settlements in conjunction with the City of Tshwane Human Settlements Department.

The intervention campaign is called “Siyeza Nakuwe,” which means ” we will get to you too.”

Gauteng Department of Human Settlements HOD Puleng Mabaso told Tshwane Talks that the said intervention at the Mamelodi Hostel entails renovating the hostel and their visit was to make sure that the intended renovation process comes to fruition once it gets started.

“We have engaged the City of Tshwane Department of Human Settlements as well as the Mamelodi Hostel leadership and I must point out that the hostel residents have been waiting for this intervention for over ten years now,” said Mabaso.

“We are here to confirm that what we have been promising all along will finally be implemented and that the renovation process will take about 24 months and includes both minor and major repairs to the hostel building, as well as sewerage facilities and the hostel indunas have shown us areas which need urgent intervention,” she said.

She announced that contactors were already at the hostel finalising bill of quantities and that the renovation process will start soon.

Mabaso pointed out that the hostels are in actual fact the responsibility of the City of Tshwane Municipality, but that they as Gauteng Human Settlements Department were merely helping out due to the dire living conditions that are in existence at the hostel.

MMC for Human Settlements in the City of Tshwane Aaron Maluleka admitted that conditions at the Mamelodi Hostel, as well as in other hostels in Tshwane were uninhabitable and that he was happy that the Gauteng Provincial Human Settlements Department had agreed to extend a helping hand in terms of resources that are at its disposal towards tackling the issue of poor living conditions at hostels like the one in Mamelodi.

“The interventions entail maintenance; improving ablution facilities, communal kitchen and electricity supply,” enthused Maluleka.

He appealed to the hostel dwellers to secure the renovation process and added that it will create temporary jobs for them while at the same time improving their living conditions.

Ward 38 Councillor Saul Ratau told Tshwane Talks that he was happy about the intervention embarked upon by the Gauteng Human Settlements Department together with the City of Tshwane Municipality.

He said hostel residents will now start paying for municipal services like water and electricity as such services will be provided to them diligently.

“As Mamelodi Hostel residents we have been waiting for the renovation process since 31 January 2023 and we are happy that after the renovations our area will be integrated into the broader township of Mamelodi and no longer be regarded as a hostel but as Extension 13 of the township,” said one of the hostel indunas.

Hostel resident Sam Skhosana said the intervention is just a waste of money as it was not going to address the burning issue of people who are currently living in asbestos shacks and have been subjected to such conditions for over 16 years now.

“I thought the Provincial Human Settlements Department would come up with long term solutions to the housing crisis at the hostel but I am disappointed that what is being proposed here are short term solutions which entail renovations here and there, and not a complete overhaul of the hostel structure,” lamented Skhosana who has been living at the inhabitable Temporary Residential Units of the hostel for many years now.