Soweto flat blocks too pricey for poor

THE Gauteng government has spent nearly R19-million on maintaining several apartment buildings that still stand empty two years after completion.

The blocks are close to the four old single-sex hostels in Orlando West, Meadowlands, Diepkloof and Dube, in Soweto, which were built to house migrant workers.

In Meadowlands, new three-storey units stand near the overcrowded old hostel, which is also surrounded by shacks.

The 900 new apartments, built at a cost of R143-million, have been empty for 22 months because an allocation plan has yet to be developed.

Palesa More, a spokeswoman of the City of Johannesburg, said the properties were handed to the city last year. She said it intended finalising the allocation of the units by the end of June.

But many of the intended tenants - mainly families living in dilapidated hostels nearby - say they cannot afford the proposed rent. A two-bedroom unit with a stove and geyser will cost R750 a month.

Provincial housing department spokesman Motsamai Motlhaolwa said R882000 was spent to maintain the units every month and, since April 2012, R18.7-million had been spent on their upkeep.

Pensioner Thembi Mathenjwa, 60, has lived in the Meadowlands hostel, now known as Meadowlands Zone 11, for 36 years. She said most people in the area "simply cannot afford" to pay. She is among about 15000 people living in the Meadowlands hostel.

Motlhaolwa said the units were not only for families living in the hostels. "The immediate residents are prioritised, but there must be a mix so that hostels become integrated with the surrounding communities," he said.

But Zodwa Mkhize, 43, another hostel resident, said residents would not allow anyone from outside the old hostels to occupy the apartments.

Bonginkosi Dhlamini, the spokesman for the Inkatha Freedom Party in Gauteng, said the allocation of the houses to people not living in hostels would cause tension. He said the government had ignored a socioeconomic survey it commissioned, which showed that only 30% of about 15 000 people living in the Meadowlands hostel could afford to pay any rent at all.