IN PICTURES | Living amid sewage, stench and squalor at Wattville hostel

28 June 2018 - 15:15 By Nomahlubi Jordaan
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
A toddler makes his way past raw sewage at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018. The hostel has raw sewage overflowing into the walkways and hasn't seen basic service delivery in weeks.
A toddler makes his way past raw sewage at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018. The hostel has raw sewage overflowing into the walkways and hasn't seen basic service delivery in weeks.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

An unbearable stench of sewage overflow‚ piles of uncollected rubbish and flies greet you as you enter the Wattville hostel in Benoni‚ east of Johannesburg‚ where about 5‚000 men and women live.

Some have lived in the hostel for as long as 15 years and claim that not much has changed since then.

According to the Democratic Alliance’s human settlements shadow minister‚ Mbulelo Bara‚ MP‚ the hostel is one of many that the government committed to converting into family units after 1994.

“This has not happened since then.”

A resident, who didn't want to be named, washes clothing at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018. The hostel hasn't seen basic service delivery in weeks.
A resident, who didn't want to be named, washes clothing at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018. The hostel hasn't seen basic service delivery in weeks.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

Bara‚ who went on an inspection oversight at the hostel on Thursday‚ said R3.5-million was budgeted for general maintenance‚ gardening and cleaning of the hostel over two recent financial years‚ yet there was no visible sign of any improvements.

“We have been living here for 15 years. The only change we have seen is running water‚ which we started getting last year. We share communal taps. We don’t have running water inside the hostels‚” resident Siyabonga Mgaga told TimesLIVE.

A resident warns a toddler not to pass a road flooded with sewage at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
A resident warns a toddler not to pass a road flooded with sewage at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

Mgaga is one of thousands of unemployed hostel dwellers living in Wattville. He moved to the hostel when he got a job in the area. He no longer works, so spends most days hanging around the hostel. Some days‚ he goes out to look for a job.

“We know we are going to see a lot of politicians around this time because it is close to elections. They always come and promise to get us out of this mess‚ but nothing ever happens‚” Mgaga said.

The ANC said in a statement last year that interim relief regarding service delivery challenges was being arranged for hostel dwellers. The ruling party also indicated that the Gauteng government was considering redeveloping the hostel in phases from 2019.

Residents make their way through narrow hallways at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
Residents make their way through narrow hallways at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

Currently‚ a portion of the hostel appears to have been renovated while the rest remains in a dilapidated state.

The windows are broken and replaced with either iron sheets or plastic. In one section‚ there are two portable toilets which‚ according to Mgaga‚ have not been serviced for the past three weeks.

“These are not conducive conditions to live in. We are forced to use these toilets even though they are full and stink. We have now resorted to collecting our rubbish because the municipality does not come and collect or clean up‚” said Mgaga.

Residents make use of a shop at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
Residents make use of a shop at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

A tour to another section of the hostel took TimesLIVE to a dark building with no sunlight coming through.

The kitchen only has a table on which a two-plate stove sits. There is another locker-type structure‚ where pots and groceries are stored. The bathroom is meant to comprise a shower and a toilet. There is no door to the room. The shower taps are broken. The makeshift shower curtain is a black plastic sheet hanging over the stall.

In one of the rooms‚ there are three beds. Under each bed is a mattress‚ where other dwellers sleep.

“You can get about eight people sleeping in one room‚” said a man who did not want to be identified.

A worker makes his way out of an area set for development at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
A worker makes his way out of an area set for development at the Wattville hostel in Benoni, Ekurhuleni on June 28, 2018.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

Another hostel dweller‚ who also refused to be named‚ told TimesLIVE that he no longer opens his kitchen window because of the stench coming from the sewage around the buildings.

“It is so unhygienic here. You can’t open the windows when you cook otherwise you are inviting the stench and the flies. My uncle here is sick with TB because of this and the fact that rubbish is not collected. And when they come to collect it‚ they only do so in certain sections‚” the man said.

Residents of the Wattville hostel in Actonville are complaining about their living conditions in the hostel, which they have been placed in for over a decade. Sewage water and a piercing stench are a part of the daily life in the hostel.


READ MORE: 

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now