The Gauteng department of human settlements has appointed a structural engineering company to assess damage caused by vandalism at flats in Dube Hostel in Soweto, years after the housing project was completed.
This was revealed by MEC Paul Mashatile at the provincial legislature on Tuesday.
DA MPL Makashule Gana asked Mashatile why the flats had not been occupied and if there were any plans to fix the damage to them. Gana also wanted to find out if the department had spent money to protect the flats from vandalism.
Mashatile said the department had spent about R37.9-million to build the Dube Hostel flats but did not spend money on security. That is why they were vandalised.
"I visited Dube Hostel with officials from Joburg and it is something that we are looking at, but obviously we have agreed that the City [of Johannesburg] will take the lead because we transferred those hostels to them. We will look at the funding," said Mashatile.
"We have appointed a structural engineering [company] to check the conditions of those flats, to look at which ones can still be salvaged and obviously those that are completely broken down, but the city will take a lead in terms of the intervention going forward."
The flats at Dube Hostel were part of the government's plan to eradicate hostels and build decent homes for people staying in hostels.
However, since the project was concluded six years ago, no one has occupied the flats and instead they have been vandalised.
Mashatile said the department was going to downgrade the level of the flats and turn them to rent-free RDP apartments as a way of responding to the call by the residents.
Gauteng premier David Makhura said the current residential units that were built are expensive for people who reside in hostels, and that the new decision to build RDP flats would bring relief to people who require decent homes.
"Many people in the hostels, almost 90% of them, cannot afford to pay the rent that we require; many of them are ordinary workers who work in factories where they are paid very little, there are also many people in those hostels who are unemployed. So this approach of RDP walk-ups will help us," he said.
Move to repair damaged Dube flats
The Gauteng department of human settlements has appointed a structural engineering company to assess damage caused by vandalism at flats in Dube Hostel in Soweto, years after the housing project was completed.
This was revealed by MEC Paul Mashatile at the provincial legislature on Tuesday.
DA MPL Makashule Gana asked Mashatile why the flats had not been occupied and if there were any plans to fix the damage to them. Gana also wanted to find out if the department had spent money to protect the flats from vandalism.
Mashatile said the department had spent about R37.9-million to build the Dube Hostel flats but did not spend money on security. That is why they were vandalised.
"I visited Dube Hostel with officials from Joburg and it is something that we are looking at, but obviously we have agreed that the City [of Johannesburg] will take the lead because we transferred those hostels to them. We will look at the funding," said Mashatile.
"We have appointed a structural engineering [company] to check the conditions of those flats, to look at which ones can still be salvaged and obviously those that are completely broken down, but the city will take a lead in terms of the intervention going forward."
The flats at Dube Hostel were part of the government's plan to eradicate hostels and build decent homes for people staying in hostels.
However, since the project was concluded six years ago, no one has occupied the flats and instead they have been vandalised.
Mashatile said the department was going to downgrade the level of the flats and turn them to rent-free RDP apartments as a way of responding to the call by the residents.
Gauteng premier David Makhura said the current residential units that were built are expensive for people who reside in hostels, and that the new decision to build RDP flats would bring relief to people who require decent homes.
"Many people in the hostels, almost 90% of them, cannot afford to pay the rent that we require; many of them are ordinary workers who work in factories where they are paid very little, there are also many people in those hostels who are unemployed. So this approach of RDP walk-ups will help us," he said.
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