OPINION: Who’s looking after who?
A lack of decent affordable housing may be the problem? Or is it the people who we put in charge?
Our community was shocked by what happened at Villa Gloria recently, just like the nation was shocked when the building in Johannesburg caught fire and over 70 lost their lives.
But why do these things happen? A lack of proper housing in our country? Of course …
First off it is no secret that we have a homelessness problem in Mogale City. Just take a drive through the CBD to see for yourself.
These days if you want to rent a place you have to fork out at least R10 000 just for a two-bedroom place with a parking space. If you have pets you can add another R2 000, not to mention the continuous increases and the cost of living.
I do not live under a rock, I understand that some of these people have substance abuse issues, and some of them do not want to work but this is not the majority. The reality is that people are sharing homes that are being rented out one room at a time and sharing a bathroom with 20 other people with no safety measures in place.
• Read the initial article here: Tragedy as fire rages through Villa Gloria
During his State of the City Address, our Executive Mayor, Danny Thupani said they are planning to build park homes to alleviate the housing issue. The News heard rumours that this project is not going to happen. Was the mayor just telling us what we wanted to hear?
The Brickvale Housing Project started years ago and it was the perfect opportunity to not only house our community but also create jobs for them. But I have seen malls go up faster than these houses. Then we were promised other housing projects in Muldersdrift and Magaliesburg regions as well. We will have to wait and see what happens there.
Our city is riddled with informal settlements with no electricity and no running water, not to mention sanitation. We need the people in charge to take responsibility for their people, we need our mayor to honour his word and provide the housing he promised.
We need stable electrical grids, pipes that do not burst and effective sanitation. We are paying for these services they need to provide. If the municipality can not look after us, the taxpayers, how are they going to look after the most vulnerable in our community?
Remember this when you submit your vote in the next election.
