Glebelands besieged by maggots as labour dispute sees waste pile up at hostel
TENANTS at umlazi’s infamous Glebelands Hostel – where more than 106 people have been killed over the past six years – are demanding ethekwini Municipality hire residents to provide cleaning services.
They have complained that the municipality has contracted “people from outside” to provide this service.
Recently, ethekwini had to stop providing cleaning services as contracted workers were being threatened.
Residents who spoke to City Watch this week said the cleaning services inside the buildings had not been operational for more than a month.
“They (ethekwini) halted services for cleaning the hostel blocks, passageways, communal kitchens and ablutions. They also stopped emptying and washing the rubbish bins on each floor, and even stopped providing black bin bags,” said one who asked not to be named.
Others are now complaining about the worsened and unhygienic living conditions.
“Maggots crawl under the doors into rooms from overflowing bins. People are trying their best to keep their blocks clean, but with so many residents and the majority unemployed, we struggle to afford food, let alone cleaning materials and bin bags,” said the resident. Human rights activist Vanessa Burger, who had visited there, described the living conditions as unbearable.
She said that to combat the extremely high unemployment rate and related social ills, hostel residents had for the past 12 years begged, pleaded and cajoled the municipality to upskill and employ community members to enable them to undertake minor repairs and maintenance.
They have also requested they be given the first option for employment with private contractors hired by the municipality to undertake major construction projects at the hostels, said Burger.
This request has not just been made by Glebelands, but by several other Durban hostel communities over the years, she said.
Instead, the municipality insists on using only preferred suppliers who are politically connected, claimed Burger.
Some of these service providers are not legitimate, resulting in an obscene waste of public funds. “This is neither logical, financially sound or socially just.”
Thabane Nyawose, ethekwini South hostel manager, said hostel dwellers had a meeting during the week. He said protesters accepted the explanations and commitments made by the municipality to provide them with cleaning jobs.
“They have also agreed that cleaning services can resume. The department is now starting a process of reporting back the outcomes of negotiations to the SA Municipal Workers’ and Independent Municipal and Allied Trade unions.
“A staff meeting will be convened next week to prepare going back to Glebe to start the work tomorrow.”