Marabastad tenants march over high rent and poor services

Residents of the Marabastad Townlands Social Housing project recently marched to Tshwane House in protest, to protest what they say are broken promises.

In April 2024, the Marabastad Townlands Social Housing Project, located on 374 Cowie Street, Marabastad, was completed and opened to residents. The 1 200-unit multimillion-rand mixed-use complex is the largest social housing development in South Africa.

Residents say, however, that since its opening, they’ve been billed rent not associated with social housing, a non-existent maintenance team, poor TV signals, no bus service expansion, security concerns, and no hot water, among other service delivery concerns.

Frustrated that several previous memorandums and complaints lodged with the municipality went unanswered, over a hundred residents of the townlands took to the streets on June 10 to air their grievances and submit yet another memorandum.

The residents also accused the metro and Housing Company Tshwane (HCT) of using intimidation tactics to bully tenants into moving out of their units should they express their frustration.

The demands are: a mayoral intervention, including the MMC for Human Settlements, HCT management and the residents’ representatives; and opening of the in-house tuckshop to mitigate security risks for residents at night. Policy reform on leases, transitioning from a 12-month to a 24-month lease cycle for verified residents and an end to redundant compliance paperwork.

An independent, forensic and administrative audit on the financial models used by HCT regarding rent calculation disparities and the legality of recent eviction notices.

A moratorium on intimidation through a Code of Conduct enforced upon the HCT management, to halt any retaliatory lease terminations or intimidation of tenants raising legitimate issues was also insisted on.

One such resident, Vusi Tlou, said these issues were not new and that they’ve raised similar concerns with the previous administration.

“But MMC to MMC, mayor to mayor, nothing is resolved. The most important issue is how they charge our rent. Our rent is too high for social housing.”

Tlou also named service delivery and maintenance as further issues.

“They also abuse their power. For us to be here, it was a journey. Some people were victimised and chased out by the townlands because they’re bullies,” he said.

He said the residents submitted a letter to the office of the mayor last November, and another this past April. The lack of a response emboldened them to take this step.

Another resident, Terrance Mulaudzi, said the rent was crippling his ability to provide for himself and his children, and demanded mayoral intervention in what has become a dire situation.

“It’s no longer social housing. I’m paying R4 500, working as a security guard, and I have four children. They have to go to school, and when I include electricity and water, it’s R6 000.

“I can’t afford anything; I just work for rent, and that’s it.”

Mulaudzi demanded that the rent be reduced.

“They don’t do any maintenance, and other people are staying there, working for the government, earning 20, 30 [thousand]. It’s their friends,” he said.

Another resident who has been living in the townlands since 2023, Florance Mahalefa, said despite paying her rent, she’s forced to use cold water, and the grass around her unit looks like a forest.

“We had a leak that destroyed our sofa recently. We’ve spoken to management and the municipality, who promised us that they would attend to our challenges, but nothing has happened.

“We want the mayor herself to come and see what we’re dealing with. We need hot water, and they need to charge our rent based on our net salary, not gross,” Mahalefa said.

The crowd demanded an audience with the mayor.

The Deputy Mayor and MMC for Finance, Eugene Modise, accepted and signed the memorandum on behalf of the metro.

Modise promised the crowd that the metro would send its maintenance teams immediately to assess the current state of the grievances mentioned, after which a report would be compiled, followed by a meeting with the mayoral committee in due course.

“The issues they are complaining about are meant for the previous regime; we’re speaking about things from four to five years ago, but we are not going to relegate this to someone else. We are the executive,” Modise said.

Modise promised that there would be a written response the next day and within seven days.

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