Diepkloof hostel residents allocated brand new homes

12 November 2015

 

“My life will never be the same again,” exclaimed former Diepkloof Hostel resident Thuli Khanyile after receiving the keys to her sparkling new two-bedroomed home from Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau in Soweto today (Thursday November 12).

 

The house is one of 60 at the hostel that have been converted into family units by the Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO), the City of Johannesburg’s social housing entity, as part of the Soweto Hostels Redevelopment and Upgrading Programme. The redevelopment of the single-sex hostels is a move away from the dehumanising conditions under which migrant workers lived, a direct result of apartheid housing policies.

The new developments are aimed creating integrated communities and promoting social cohesion and nation building. The 42-year-old Khanyile, who once fled the hostel for safety reasons, said she was ecstatic at being a first-time owner of a new tiled home fully-fitted with a kitchen unit, a sink, stove, bathroom and toilet. Khanyile, from Ngquthu in KwaZulu-Natal, was among 40 people who were handed over keys to their new homes today. She will share the home with her husband, three children and a grandchild. “From now on I’ll live like other people in the neighbourhood,” she said.

 

Bashise Dumakude, 56, from Mahlabathini, also in KwaZulu-Natal, said he came to work and live in Johannesburg in 1980, moving from one hostel to another. He said moving into a home that he would share with his family was “a dream come true”. He thanked the City for changing his life for the better. “I’d like to call on the City to continue redeveloping hostels and improving people’s lives. Conditions in the hostel are not good for human beings. I’m looking forward to this new lease of life,” Dumakude said.

 

Mayor Tau, speaking in isiZulu, said the City was committed to improving the lives of people living in hostels. He said, however, that this would not be achieved overnight. He said it was very important that the maintenance and cleaning of hostels be taken care of by the residents themselves instead of people from outside.

He said the City had asked all entities to contribute by taking the Jozi@Work programme to hostels. “When we do that we are helping to alleviate poverty and unemployment. People living in hostels should be the ones in charge of the cleaning and maintenance of their areas,” he said.

 

Inkatha Freedom Party Member of the Gauteng Legislature Bonginkosi Dlamini thanked Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee for Housing Councillor Dan Bovu for his role in the redevelopment of the hostels, adding that he no longer saw the need for protesting. National Freedom Party councillor Bhekinkosi Gumbi also thanked the City for working with all stakeholders despite their political differences.