‘Bad build ings’ plague CBD

Enforcement of by-laws, provision of low-cost housing can solve illegal accommodation

THE enforcement of building by-laws especially in and around Durban’s CBD, and the provision of low-cost housing remains a perennial problem for the ethekwini municipality.

A two-storey building in an area zoned commercial, which was once a warehouse, but has since been “illegally” reconfigured to contain 65 dwelling units and houses more than 200 people, including women and children, is a typical example of Durban’s “bad building” problem.

After a recent inspection of the building in question on Che Guevara (formerly Moore) Road, outside Durban’s CBD, the ethekwini municipality’s fire department “condemned” it and recommended it be shut.

On Tuesday, fire authorities issued the building’s owner, Javed Ally, a month’s notice to ensure the building met their safety requirements.

Ally claims that he leased the building to a foreign national, which expired late last year, and when he inspected the premises, he discovered it had been converted to living quarters. Ally said he then raised the alarm with the municipality’s fire department and he sought assistance from Sharmaine Sewshanker, the DA’S ward 32 PR councillor.

“We want the building demolished and get it back to what it was before, a warehouse,” said Ally.

Sewshanker led a delegation to the building and found that about 200 people lived in units that were built with hollow blocks, had iron roof sheets and measured about 35m².

She noticed the units had no water connections of their own, only two ablution facilities, which were on the first floor and there were no fire hoses, yet families were charged R2 500 to rent a unit.

“The size of a unit was too small for even one person to reside in. Most units had couples with children living in them. From this, I can safely say the building is overcrowded and not suitable for residential purposes.”

Sewshanker was cognisant of the health risks the building posed, especially Covid-19 contamination, as it was evidently difficult for residents to observe the required social-distancing protocols.

She also asked the fire department to investigate.

Some of the non-compliant issues raised by the fire department included: fire equipment not serviced, no tenancy separation, no fire detection, signage or emergency lighting, incorrect locking devices on doors and no handrails on stairs.

But Sewshanker was mindful that there was no easy way forward.

“As much as the recommendation from Metro Fire was to shut the building, we simply can’t evict 200 people.

“Where do they go during this lockdown?

“The only solution is for the owner to perhaps find alternative accommodation for the residents,” she said.

Sewshanker said slum landlords and bad buildings were definitely a growing trend, especially in the CBD, and that the municipality urgently needed to provide solutions.

“We are tired of listening to talk shops without actual implementation of the by-laws.

“The lives of desperate people are being compromised.

“The conditions of some of these buildings are an eyesore and does little for the image of the city.”

MPL Martin Meyer, the DA’S spokesperson for human settlements was also present during the site visit.

Meyer said “slumlords” were not operating in Durban only, but there seemed to be no firm action from the local or provincial government.

He said people tolerated being crammed in such buildings because they wanted to be near their places of employment.

“The City needs to enforce their by-laws on building, and on a provincial level, I will call for the human settlements MEC to investigate and fast-track the provision of cheap houses,” Meyer said.

But Msawakhe Mayisela, the ethekwini municipality’s spokesperson, said they were “winning the war against slumlords” through their enforcement interventions.

Mayisela said their strategy to carry out weekly multi-disciplinary operations on selected buildings, where offending property owners were penalised, worked.

“The turnaround time for compliance depends on the complexities associated with the building, including adjudication by the courts.”

Mayisela confirmed that their “Better Buildings Team” (including their fire department) had inspected the building with floor space of 2000m² over its two floors, last month.

He also said the owner wanted to shut the illegal accommodation and was given until the end of the month to comply with the order he was served.

Kiru Naidoo, spokesperson for Kwazulu-natal’s Department of Human Settlements said they were keenly interested in all matters related to decent human settlements.

“Exploitation of vulnerable people by landlords must be challenged.

“Tenants experiencing any kind of difficulties are encouraged to approach the department’s Rental Housing Tribunal with their grievances.”

Naidoo said they were committed to housing delivery, and over the past five years they were able to deliver projects like Cornubia and others through their Integrated Development Residential Programme.

And in the past financial year, their department delivered 12 143 units, which is the most in the country per province.