City takes hygiene and health education to hostel residents

30 March 2017

 

The City of Johannesburg’s Citizen Relationship and Urban Management (CRUM) in Region F will in the coming weeks embark on a series of public engagement sessions in single-sex hostels to promote personal hygiene and environmental health among the residents.

 

There are 31 single-sex hostels under the jurisdiction of the City.

Its Housing Department owns and manages 25 hostels – 11 public and 14 staff – while the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements owns and manages six public hostels.

The majority of the hostels are located in regions D, E and F. Most are in appalling conditions, are overcrowded and have poor sanitation. Illegal electricity connections, breaches of health and safety by-laws and levels of violent crimes are disproportionately high.

The prevalent unhygienic conditions turn into breeding grounds for flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes and rodents.

It is against this background that Region F’s CRUM has taken it upon itself to engage hostel residents and help keep their living environment clean and habitable.

“We want to engage them and make them aware of their rights, roles and responsibilities. We all have a part to play in ensuring that people live in decent spaces,” says Zaabe Magwaza, Region F Stakeholder Management and Liaison Officer.

“We will soon be visiting a number of hostels and communities to talk about the dangers of overcrowding and poor hygiene.”

Also taking part in these public education initiatives will be officials from the City's Environmental Health Department as well as from entities such as electricity utility City Power, waste management company Pikitup and Johannesburg Water.

One such public engagement session took place at Wolhuter Hostel in Jeppestown on Saturday March 25.

On arrival, City officials were confronted with several instances of illegal dumping and general disregard for City by-laws.

“However, one of the issues that came up was that when the skip bin is full, they don’t know who to contact to come and replace it,” said Magwaza.

She called on tenants to protect themselves against unhygienic conditions by, among other things, keeping their rooms neat and tidy at all times, washing their hands after going to the toilet and calling Pikitup when the skip bin is full.

Dates and venues of the public education engagements will be communicated in due course.