Hostel residents left without roofs - Pretoria News

Mamelodi hostel residents woke up to municipal contractors removing the roofs over their heads as their long drawn-out standoff with the Tshwane Metro Council took another turn yesterday.

According to the residents, they were not warned beforehand that the contractors would be removing the roofs, and all of them still had their possessions inside the unit.

The remaining Mamelodi hostels are in line to be demolished to make way for a multi-million rand housing development project, but residents are not happy with the issue. 

They have claimed that the council had given RDP houses and rental units to people who did not live at the hostels and to members of the SAPS.



Speaking as the contractors were busy removing the roofs yesterday, Mamelodi hostel residents committee chairman Daniel Sello said they were disappointed that the council had not contacted them about their plans to dismantle their roofs yesterday.

"Nobody is communicating anything to us. We are clueless about what their plans are because even our councillors do not speak to us about these issues.



"We have tried all available avenues to get the council to listen to us and treat us like human beings, but clearly that will not happen anytime soon," he said.

Sello said they were surprised to see the SAPS and the Tshwane Metro Police arrive with the contractors. Most of the residents affected did not have anywhere else to go, he said.

"These people have been living here for many years. This is the place they know as their home - now they suddenly do not have a roof over their heads.

"Their possessions were still inside and now all of a sudden they have to find alternative accommodation overnight... this is a really bad situation," said Sello.



Louise du Plessis, a lawyer representing some of the residents, said they would be making an urgent application to have the council stop demolishing the roofs while the residents did not have alternative accommodation.

According to a report previously submitted to the metro council, the eradication of the old dormitory hostels, and the integration of the inhabitants into the neighbouring communities, "is a key priority for the city in its concerted effort to address the legacy of the past". 

The report said that in Phase 1, which had been completed, four new three-storey buildings had been erected in wards 38 and three in ward 67 (where the hostels are situated). 


 By Mogomotsi Magome



This article was originally published on page 1 of The Pretoria News on November 16, 2009