Inside hostel life: Nine families share a single toilet and bleak future amid crumbling infrastructure

Residents living in dilapidated hostels built by the apartheid government in Soweto have little hope of better conditions or access to land to build homes for their children.

This despite the Gauteng government’s new promises that it will fix hostels that were used by the apartheid government to house black labourers.

A mother, Lehlohonolo Dlamini, lives with her family of seven in a small dormitory room in Nancefield Hostel in Soweto. Three people sleep on their bed and four others sleep on the floor in a room smaller than that of an RDP house.

When it rains, it becomes a nightmare for those sleeping on the floor.

Dlamini told TimesLIVE their rooms get flooded. The old building has cracked walls and windows full of holes. The families try to cover these with clothes.

Dlamini said she's lost hope of conditions in the hostel improving.

Her family shares a single toilet with eight other families living in their dark dormitory.

“We are overcrowded and use the same toilet, I get worried about the children. The toilet sometimes is left dirty when other residents refuse to do their part in cleaning.”

The residents do not rent at the hostel and sometimes hire people to fix things such as blocked toilets, running water and electricity outages.

Dlamini said the leaders of the hostel mostly assisted with this but the problem sometimes took days to address.

When TimesLIVE arrived at the hostel it found a broken tap with running water.

The residents reported that it had been running for two days and would likely be fixed on Monday, five days since it started.

“Sometimes my children ask me why I chose to stay here and not where I can have my own kitchen and toilet. They do not know I had planned a better future for them,” Dlamini said.

She has been living in the hostel for 15 years and said she had bought a plot from ward committees in a newly established township area in Lenasia near Lolly station but her hopes of building something better for her children were short-lived.

“We had our shack there for two years. There were so many people that built in that area and we also decided to build a six-room house. Last year the red ants and some other people demolished it and now we have to continue staying here,” Dlamini said as she fought back tears.

Dlamini, who has a hair salon in the hostel, said her family had invested about R90,000 into building the house in Lenasia.

“I almost died when they destroyed my home. It is something that has been a scar to me and I have not been able to tell the children that their home was demolished.”

Sandile Majola said residents did not live in hostels because they liked it.

“Asihlali lana ngoba sithanda kodwa sicenga impilo [we do not live here because we like but because we seek greener pastures],” he said.

He said staying in hostels was the only option for job seekers coming from poor homes in rural areas.

Majola — from the village of former president Jacob Zuma, Nkandla in KZN — said he came to Johannesburg six years ago to seek employment.

He said crime was a major issue, with robberies happening outside the hostel boundaries.

“Last month, there were three people who were shot and killed, for reasons I do not know. Right now things are fine.”

They suffered most from unstable power supply.

“The electricity officials tell us the problem is caused by high demand and the infrastructure is battling to keep up,” Majola said.

Conditions of people living in hostels have come into the spotlight after Gauteng human settlements and infrastructure development MEC Lebogang Maile recently met with leaders of hostels.

Maile promised the leaders refurbishments and improved living conditions in hostels.

But politicians' promises have been unfilled for many years, according to residents.

The department’s head of communication Tahir Sema told TimesLIVE the department would repair six hostels it owns in Johannesburg.

“Procurement for contractors is under way during this first quarter of the financial year. These hostels are George Goch, Jeppe, Denver, MBA, LTA (Rethabile) and Murray & Roberts,” Sema said.

The maintenance for these six hostels in Johannesburg's inner city was planned for this year. This promise was also made in 2017.

“The department is planning to undertake bulk infrastructure for the rest of 59 hostels as well as fix urgent maintenance in all these hostels.”

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