DV hostels ignored for nearly 20 years

Hostel dwellers in Duncan Village say the municipality has not maintained their buildings for nearly 20 years.

Nophelo Zimela says she moved to B hostel from a backyard shack in 1998.

“Back then‚ the municipality would regularly come and paint the hostel‚ cut the grass and check whether there were broken windows. Now we wait forever until we decide to fix our problems by ourselves.

“I had a leaking toilet pipe for almost a year. Every time I called the municipality‚ I was told someone would come.

“That would never happen. I decided to buy material and pay someone to fix it‚” said Zimela.

She shares a two-room unit with her brother‚ adult daughter and two of her brother’s children. They share a toilet and a kitchen with other families.

There are 500 units in the hostel.

Zimela said: “They have never even been painted [by the municipality] since we came here. We collect money as residents in a certain block and buy the paint ourselves.

“When we came here‚ they gave us house numbers‚ and told us about a possible relocation to an open field near the East London Airport.

“Since then‚ nothing has been said about housing.”

Also in Duncan Village is BCM’s D section hostel, with 250 rooms. Residents use communal toilets outside. To qualify to live in the hostels‚ household income must be under R3,500 per month.

Ward committee member Nomzamo Qoqwana said: “BCM never gives proper responses when we tell them about maintenance problems in the hostel. Instead‚ we are told to fill in complaint forms repeatedly.”

The municipal head of human settlements and councillor for ward 2‚ Ntombizandile Mhlola, said: “In terms of maintaining the hostels‚ the municipality does go to attend to problems as per reports from residents. However‚ delays are there‚ I agree. This is caused by lack of budget from our side.” — GroundUp