DURBAN - THE DA in eThekwini has appealed to deputy mayor Godfrey Philani Mavundla to urgently visit abandoned and dilapidated government flats in Lamontville.
Party councillor Sithembiso Ngema visited the area to check whether there had been any progress since he was last there in October. Ngema told the Daily News on Wednesday that it was shocking that after a lot of promises, nothing had been done to place deserving people in those flats, adding that they had been vacant since 2019 and had been vandalised.
Ngema said the DA wanted to know from Mavundla what he had done since he got into office as the head of the infrastructure and housing committee, adding that by now he should have at least received and compiled reports about all housing projects in eThekwini.
“We have raised the issue before, and we came here in October. It was not electioneering and we are back here again because, as the DA, we want to see the communities that were removed from their shacks occupying these flats, so we urge Mavundla to visit these flats and see for himself the state of dilapidation they are in so he can urgently deal with the problem,” said Ngema.
Another reason Ngema said he wanted Mavundla to visit the flats was so that he could see the squalid conditions people were subjected to because of the city’s failure to place people in these flats.
He said the flats cost taxpayers a lot of money as they needed to be guarded by a private company. He also accused the city of putting the security guards at risk of being robbed, since they were unarmed and stayed in the building with no lights, water or toilets.
A resident, Qhawe Khumalo, who said he was on the list (for the flat beneficiaries) said he had been hoping that they would be placed in the flats before Christmas, however, they were disappointed they had had to spend it in the temporary structures they had built while waiting to be placed in the flats.
Mavundla said he would call a media briefing after 100 days in office to explain to the public what he had done, and outline his vision about the housing and infrastructure developments as head of the committee.
Daily News