VEREENIGING. – Although the community of Vereeniging has demanded that the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) demolish what is left of the old Vereeniging Hospital, commonly known as “21”, this seems to be a far-fetched dream.

Following a series of criminal activities that have taken place at the hospital, the community is demanding that it be demolished. However, Sedibeng Ster has found out that the hospital is not the responsibility of the ELM but that of the Gauteng Provincial Government, which sees the place as a monument. There are seemingly no plans to relocate the residents, as the community of Vereeniging demands.

Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, community members said that they are ‘gatvol’ with what is taking place at 21. Two children have died, and a stillborn was found dumped in rubbish.

The community wants the place, which houses over eighty families, destroyed.

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Ward 15 Councillor, Prudence Nhlapo-Hlanyane, who is also the DA’s Regional Chairperson, said that most of the people that stay at 21 are legitimate South Africans, with a few Lesotho nationals who have nowhere to go.

“They also do not want to be there because of safety reasons but they do not have a choice.”

Hlanyane said that as a Councillor she went to the relevant offices at the ELM to inquire about 21 but was told that the place is seen as a monument by the province and there are no plans for housing there. It was recommended that the people staying at 21 must register for houses; this is what most had done.

“Almost 15 to 20 families at the old hospital have valid papers for houses in Tshepiso Phase 4.  Those houses were built and finished but they are now being occupied by the members of the MKMVA. People have addresses to those places but there is nothing they can do because their houses have been hijacked,” Hlanyare said.

She adds that it is well known that 21 is not a safe place because of its building structures; there are no toilets, and there is no electricity.

“A petition is out that the municipality must request rezoning from a monument (from the province) to residential. The municipality, working hand in hand with the local government, must start developing 21 and making it a residential area,” Hlanyane pleaded.

She ended by saying that, together with the residents of 21, they have reached an agreement that all unoccupied buildings and unsafe structures at 21 must be demolished.