Pretoria - It was a hostile and tense atmosphere when City of Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa met Mamelodi Hostel dwellers on Monday.
The hostel dwellers also hurled insults at Human Settlements MMC Joshua Ngonyama for his failure to improve their living conditions and to organise the eviction of those who have illegally occupied 148 family units meant for hostel dwellers.
They also accused Ngonyama of lying and claiming to be co-operating with a committee that only he knows while the legitimate committee has never interacted with him about an array of issues, including improving their living conditions and the eviction of those who have unlawfully occupied the family units.
“We just want a date as to when they will be evicted. We also want Ngonyama to point out the committee he claims he has been dealing with because we are the legitimate committee that has been selected by our community,” hostel association chairman Daniel Sello said.
The angry hostel dwellers remained adamant that they would not entertain election-related rhetoric without resolutions for matters at hand.
During the heated meeting at Solomon Mahlangu Square, Sello said their sole concern was for the city to implement the findings contained in a report which investigated the wrongful allocation of family units meant for hostel dwellers.
“We don’t want to talk about anything else apart from that issue. You need to tell us when they will be implementing the findings in the report,” said Sello.
He said an investigation into the allocations had been initiated by the city early last year, but the report was never shared with them.
“We have made countless requests for information on the findings of the inquiry into the units which were built as a result of our living problems,” he said.
Sello said they wanted the report to be made public, followed by timeframes for the implementation of the recommendations in the report, and evidence that it would be fast-tracked.
Ramokgopa said he would look into the matter of the misallocation of family units when they have a meeting with the identified hostel association committee members this week.
“We as the city need to approach our lawyers first before acting on an eviction. We need to acquire an interdict and to provide those who have occupied your family units with alternative shelter, as the law requires,” said Ramokgopa.
The city conducted an investigation into the allocation and management of the units and has found three officials were on the wrong side of the law. They would be arrested and disciplinary measures taken against them.
The hostel dwellers and the city have been at loggerheads for more than 16 years in a dispute that has dragged both parties to court several times. A significant bone of contention has been the unhygienic environment and lack of basic facilities in the hostel.
Residents live without electricity and in some of the buildings there are no panes on the windows, or no roofs over their heads. Some parents live with entire families in small spaces.
For others, the major concern is living in, and sometimes raising children, in environments with inadequate sanitation, ablution facilities and where rubbish goes uncollected for weeks at a time.
Pretoria News