Mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba has begun a process to take over all hijacked buildings within the city and turn them into affordable-housing properties.
On Wednesday‚ Mashaba visited one of the buildings‚ Vanin Court in Hillbrow. This building was once owned by the city but it has been hijacked and turned into a slum.
Tenants pay rent of up to R700 a month for appalling conditions with illegal water and electricity connections. This is just R100 less than occupants of city-owned properly refurbished buildings pay.
Wires run in the passages to provide light to each unit and water is dripping in every corner. Some of the residents said they would be glad to vacate the building as long as they get temporary shelter.
“We live in a filthy place here as you can see. We pay a lot of money for this sh*t. But what can we do?” said one of the residents‚ who did not want to be named. Vanin Court houses 230 people.
Last week‚ council gave Mashaba the go-ahead to start taking over hijacked buildings and converting them to low-cost housing units.
The city will start with 12 buildings but 85 hijacked buildings have already been identified. Of these‚ 24 once belonged to the city.
Mashaba said the city will continue identifying these building and tracing owners. “Our poor people are paying rentals (of) up to R700 just to put a bed‚ to live in. They are paying rentals to slum lords. Obviously they are too scared to tell us who these slum lords are but I can assure South Africans and residents of Johannesburg‚ I am going to find them. These slum lords cannot hide. We are going to have undercover operations to ensure that we find them.
“As of today‚ we’ve advertised in all the papers; starting with 12 buildings. This morning I have been advised that there is a likelihood that come end of November [in the] council meeting they will give us another 40 buildings that we must convert‚” Mashaba said.
The private sector is expected to come on board and partner in order to refurbish these building under strict conditions.
“For you to qualify you have to tell us how much money you are going to put in the building. You have to tell us how many units you will construct‚ how much rent will you be charging the tenants‚ because we want affordable housing.
“You have to tell us how many people you are going to employ during the construction period. Also what is important is for the contractor to tell us [what] the training programme [will be]‚ because we want to train our people to be proper artisans.”
Mashaba committed the city into providing alternative accommodation for residents while buildings are being renovated.
Mashaba kicks off conversion of hijacked Johannesburg buildings into affordable-housing projects
Mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba has begun a process to take over all hijacked buildings within the city and turn them into affordable-housing properties.
On Wednesday‚ Mashaba visited one of the buildings‚ Vanin Court in Hillbrow. This building was once owned by the city but it has been hijacked and turned into a slum.
Tenants pay rent of up to R700 a month for appalling conditions with illegal water and electricity connections. This is just R100 less than occupants of city-owned properly refurbished buildings pay.
Wires run in the passages to provide light to each unit and water is dripping in every corner. Some of the residents said they would be glad to vacate the building as long as they get temporary shelter.
“We live in a filthy place here as you can see. We pay a lot of money for this sh*t. But what can we do?” said one of the residents‚ who did not want to be named. Vanin Court houses 230 people.
Last week‚ council gave Mashaba the go-ahead to start taking over hijacked buildings and converting them to low-cost housing units.
The city will start with 12 buildings but 85 hijacked buildings have already been identified. Of these‚ 24 once belonged to the city.
Mashaba said the city will continue identifying these building and tracing owners. “Our poor people are paying rentals (of) up to R700 just to put a bed‚ to live in. They are paying rentals to slum lords. Obviously they are too scared to tell us who these slum lords are but I can assure South Africans and residents of Johannesburg‚ I am going to find them. These slum lords cannot hide. We are going to have undercover operations to ensure that we find them.
“As of today‚ we’ve advertised in all the papers; starting with 12 buildings. This morning I have been advised that there is a likelihood that come end of November [in the] council meeting they will give us another 40 buildings that we must convert‚” Mashaba said.
The private sector is expected to come on board and partner in order to refurbish these building under strict conditions.
“For you to qualify you have to tell us how much money you are going to put in the building. You have to tell us how many units you will construct‚ how much rent will you be charging the tenants‚ because we want affordable housing.
“You have to tell us how many people you are going to employ during the construction period. Also what is important is for the contractor to tell us [what] the training programme [will be]‚ because we want to train our people to be proper artisans.”
Mashaba committed the city into providing alternative accommodation for residents while buildings are being renovated.
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