Pretoria - Following a week of violent protests by Diepkloof Hostel residents, Joburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda, has assured the community that the city will soon begin working on electricity installations in the area.
Gwamanda’s visit comes after hostel residents staged numerous protests this month and blocked off nearby highways with burning tyres.
At the heart of the protest, hostel dwellers raised issues about lack of housing, proper ablution facilities and a lack of electricity.
"You elected us into power and it is unfair to you that the living conditions are this bad 27 years into our democracy,“ Gwamanda told residents.
Gwamanda took a tour around the hostel to get a sense of the living conditions, where he was flanked by Public Safety MMC Dr Mgcini Tshwaku, who said the living conditions at the hostel were deplorable.
“We need to intervene as soon as possible, it’s very bad, vandalism and no electricity. Obviously people are going to connect wherever they can, they have been waiting for electricity for a very long time.
“There has been some electricity construction done in the area, but it was just stopped,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, executive director of the Joburg Human Settlements Department, Patrick Phophi, said they have issued an instruction to City Power to install electricity in the hostel.
He said the City will also engage with Joburg Water to start the process of water and sanitation.
“Joburg Water does not have a sole responsibility to provide water, they act on instructions. They are not in the process of managing the hostel, we manage the hostel,” he said during an interview with the SABC.
Phophi said it was also important to note that the hostel was built during the apartheid era and the place never had facilities.
He said the City, together with the provincial government, has compiled all the necessary needs throughout 13 hostels in the City and will make sure they all have services.
IOL