No end in sight to KwaMai-Mai residents’ plight
The residents are in urgent need of assistance due to the poor living conditions.
Life for KwaMai-Mai residents has not changed. Instead, it seems to have become worse.
The EXPRESS reported on June 2015 that the residents are in urgent need of assistance due to the poor living conditions.
The EXPRESS’ requests for comment at that stage were unsuccessful.
A number of attempts to receive assistance from the City of Joburg (CoJ) have been forthcoming.
A committee was established last August to be the voice of the approximately 2 000 residents living there.
A petition was also signed by residents as action to show how dire the situation is.
Furthermore, meetings were arranged with the CoJ’s Mayoral Committe Member for Housing, Clr Bonakelo Daniel Bovu, which were never honoured.
The response given by Clr Bovu was that there are programmes in place, whereby the CoJ plans to move the people of KwaMai-Mai to South Hill.
“There are issues that will need to be considered before the people receive help,” said Clr Bovu.
“We first need to establish whether the people are employed and then determine their income to determine whether they qualify for rental or RDP accommodation.”
A follow-up was done recently by Clr Bongani Nkwanyana, in an email sent six months ago to the office of Clr Bovu.
Clr Nkwanyana has not received any response to his email.
“It is unfortunate that the MMC has failed to assist and did not even respond to my email six months ago. This puts me in an awkward position when people ask me questions as to whether they will ever receive assistance from the CoJ.
“I’m wondering if the MMC found this issue to not be urgent,” said Clr Nkwanyana.
Clr Nkawanyana has made a request to MMC Bovu to make time for a walk around through the area of the KwaMai-Mai informal settlement.
The DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Mr Herman Mashaba and Clr Nkwanyana, visited KwaMai-Mai on March 1.
The purpose of the visit was to engage with residents regarding service delivery issues and also the living conditions in the settlement.
“I would really like to make an appeal to the CoJ to assist with the situation. Housing is a huge challenge in the city which needs to be addressed. What is happening here is wrong. Even if the people are not working, something needs to be done to arrange accommodation for them,” said Mr Mashaba.
A media inquiry was sent to the office of MMC Bovu on February 3 with a request for comment, by no later than February 4 at 9am.
At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
