Latest news with #JohannesburgMMC
TimesLIVE
06-08-2025
- General
- TimesLIVE
R500m hostel project half done but poor safety and overcrowding persist
Gauteng human settlements MEC Tasneem Motara says major refurbishment work on Johannesburg's inner-city hostels is halfway complete, with visible changes for residents but challenges such as overcrowding and poor safety remain. Motara and Johannesburg MMC for human settlements Mlungisi Mabaso visited the George Goch, MBA, Murray & Roberts, Jeppe and Denver hostels on Wednesday to monitor progress under the 'Siyeza Nakuwe' service delivery campaign. The three-year, R500m project targets six hostels with work on the final one, LTA Hostel, expected to start within two months. The project includes structural repairs, sewer and water line upgrades, new electrical systems, waterproofing, paving, window replacement, tiling, painting and plumbing. Motara said this was informed by condition assessments conducted three years ago to determine what was needed to make the hostels habitable. 'These hostels are really old and overcrowded. They were built for a specific purpose that no longer exists. Our responsibility is not just because we own them, but from a human rights and dignity perspective,' Motara said. 'We want to redevelop them into family units in future, but that will require more funding.' She described the state of the hostels before the intervention as 'appalling' and said the department began with daily cleaning before tackling major repairs. 'We should not go beyond May next year. Some hostels will have completed blocks by the end of August,' she said, adding that bad weather could cause minor delays. Mabaso said the city's hostel redevelopment strategy recently approved by council aims to partner the private sector for future phases.
IOL News
30-04-2025
- IOL News
Over R10,000 a month: Inside a hijacked Joburg building turned recycling warehouse
Garbage piles inside the Casa Mia building, in Johannesburg where illegal tenants say they collect and sell waste to survive. Image: Simon Majadibodu/IOL Over R10,000 - that's how much one of the three men illegally occupying the hijacked Casa Mia building in Hillbrow in Joburg claims to earn by turning it into a waste recycling warehouse. 'We make a lot of money,' the man told IOL News during an operation led by Johannesburg MMC for Human Settlements Mlungisi Mabaso on Wednesday. The visit was part of a city-wide inspection of hijacked buildings. When IOL News entered the Casa Mia building, located on Soper Street, they were met with a strong stench, dilapidated infrastructure, and leaking sewage. Piles of garbage, including plastic bottles, cans, glass and cardboard, were stacked throughout the garage area. The three men living in the building appeared shocked by the unannounced visit. One of them, who refused to be named, said they had been living there for more than three years. 'We are trying to make a living by collecting waste. We collect it around the city and sell it to make money,' he said. Asked whether they were occupying the building illegally, he denied it. 'We are paying rent, but we are working for someone. That person is the one who pays rent to the building's owners. We don't know how much he pays,' he added. However, Mabaso confirmed that the Casa Mia building is owned by the City of Johannesburg and that the municipality has not received any rent from its current illegal occupants. When pressed about how much they earn each month from selling waste, the man hesitated but eventually said, 'Yoh! We make a lot of money … It's more than R10,000.' He said they don't know where they will go if the city evicts them. 'What is going to happen to us? We don't have a place to go to. We are suffering and trying to make ends meet here.' Inside the hijacked Casa Mia building on Soper Street in Hillbrow, where garbage fills the ground floor amid squalid conditions. Image: Simon Majadibodu/IOL Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Mabaso said the city intends to reclaim all hijacked buildings, starting with those it owns. 'The mayor (Dada Morero) instructed us to clean the inner city. We decided to prioritise our own properties first,' said Mabaso. 'We want to turn the inner city into a construction site, but we can't do that when most of our buildings are hijacked.' He said the city owns many hijacked properties through its entity, JOSCO, and will need to provide alternative accommodation during evictions. 'In the process of evacuation, we need to provide alternatives for the occupants. For us to be able to redevelop buildings, they need to be vacant first,' Mabaso explained.
