Living Conditions at Wattville Hostel in Actonville appalling

Yesterday, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Social Development and Constituency Head for Greater Benoni, Emmah More MP, inspected the living conditions at the Wattville Hostel in Actonville and listened to the grievances of local residents.

The DA team discovered appalling living conditions during the visit. It is clear that little to no maintenance has been done on the building in nearly 20 years. In one instance there are some 200 people using one toilet and one shower, with access to a single tap.

The DA believes that the hostel residents have been neglected and denied a right to a life of dignity in safe and reasonable accommodation. The hostels were built in the 1950s to accommodate labourers from other provinces under the apartheid system and are in serious need of upgrades and maintenance.

The residents of the Wattville Hostel marched through Benoni in October 2012 and handed a memorandum to a representative of the Mayor regarding living conditions at the hostel. To date the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) has not responded to their grievances.

DA PR councillor for Ward 29, Gary Scallan, has circulated a petition requesting that living conditions be improved. Cllr Scallan has also reported the overflowing sewage problem to the Provincial Legislature as this situation has not been remedied by EMM and is in contravention of the National Environmental Management Act.   

Some 513 residents signed the petition requesting service delivery and an improvement in living conditions which Cllr Scallan will be submitting at the next full sitting of Ekurhuleni council on 20 March 2013.

Statement issued by Emmah More, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Social Development and Constituency Head, March 14 2013

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