Security is to be upgraded at the crime-ridden Umgibeli block of flats in Sunnyside, the management of the building said last week.
First Property Trust (FPT) protocol manager Martin van Dewath said work on the upgrading might begin next week. “We will build a new entrance and implement access control systems,” he told Rekord.
Dewath said overcrowding at the complex also needed to be dealt with.
Tenants have been complaining for months that the building was a dangerous place to live in.
In April, Ethiopian nationals Seltan Weldencheal and his toddler son Musea Weldencheal were shot by robbers outside the door of their flat in the building. Seltan was shot in the stomach by the same bullet hit the child in both legs. The child died of his injuries earlier this month.
Seltan lived with the bullet inside his body for 21 days before it was removed on 19 May, when doctors felt it was safe to do so.
Resident, Edmond Moyo, told Rekord that tenants feared for their lives.
Some residents said the management had failed on numerous occasions to honour undertakings to upgrade security.
A resident Evans Chakwana said management had promised a gate with access control would be installed on 15 August, but this never happened.
Some tenants have threatened to stop paying rent and divert the money towards fixing the security.
Moyo said a meeting to discuss this idea was scheduled for Sunday.
“If everything goes well we will still meet on Sunday,” he said.
Also read: Father and child shot in Sunnyside
Shot child fights for recovery
Flat dwellers to use rent money for security
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