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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is shocked to learn that the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements has for months now not done any maintenance at the provincial owned rental flats in Eldorado Park.

There is a severe lack of proper regular maintenance at these flats.

These flats are dirty, there are sewer and drain blockages with raw sewage flowing all over the yard and outside the flats to the main road.

There are serious plumbing and electrical faults that are putting the lives of residents at risk.

At some of these flats the roofs are loose and there are structural challenges and water leakages.

The most affected flats are Goud Street flats, Hillbrow flats block M, N, P and Q, Block 47 and 52.

There is also a unit 77 B which was burnt down in 2015 and to date it has not been fixed and the tenant still does not have a proper place to stay.

See photos here, here, here and here.

The conditions in these flats are appalling, unsanitary and pose a health risk to its residents.

The department is aware of these maintenance issues and has, on several occasions, promised to fix, however, to date no maintenance has been done.

It has been over four months now and the department’s Supply Chain Management is still in the process of appointing a maintenance contractor for these flats.

The residents claim that it usually takes a long time for maintenance to be done and that for the last three years the grass has not been cut.

This clearly indicates that this department cares little about ensuring that our people have proper dignified housing.

The DA calls on the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile to ensure that his department speed up the process of appointing service providers to do maintenance at these flats. We will also table questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain when last maintenance was done at these flats, why there has been no proper regular maintenance and how much budget has been allocated for maintenance.

Issued by The DA