Johannesburg - Leaking walls, sagging ceilings and sewage flowing outside their doors. These are the conditions residents of a block of city-owned flats in Vredepark, Randburg, have to contend with.
The residents said the latest leaks have been affecting them for the past two weeks and were just part of an array of problems with the building.
The hazardous conditions have persisted despite DA ward 58 councillor Nazley Sharif highlighting them in a complaint she has filed with the City of Johannesburg’s housing department.
“If they pay rent, they deserve to get their flats maintained,” Sharif said. “Nobody deserves to live like this.”
A steady stream of sewage has flowed outside Louis Pauls’s flat in the Almond Court building for the past two weeks.
He said he had complained to the managing office but was still waiting for the leak to be fixed.
The sewage has formed a large puddle outside his kitchen window.
“It stinks,” said Pauls, who suffers from a condition that causes shortness of breath. “We’ve got to cook here and everything.”
Sharif toured the flats with a Joburg health inspector on Tuesday.
City housing spokeswoman Bubu Xuba said the housing department was aware of the problem.
“We are in the process of appointing service providers to fix these maintenance issues,” she said. “It is our plan to have them fixed as soon as our procurement processes allow.”
In Desiree Hendricks’s flat, leaking water has soaked her ceiling, causing it to sag. When the wind blows, she can hear loud banging coming from the roof.
Hendricks said a piece of the roof had fallen off and broken through her window, narrowly missing hitting one of her grandchildren.
Leaking water has seeped through the walls into the rooms, she said.
“The water comes through,” another resident said. “It’s wet, wet, wet.”
Sharif said residents had told her that in another flat in the area, dripping pipes had caused a child to develop a bacterial infection.
She had planned to hold a public meeting about the housing conditions in Vredepark last Friday.
Sharif said she planned to raise the matter with housing member of the mayoral committee Dan Bovu. She also plans to start a tenants’ association so residents can report maintenance issues together.
The Star