Cape Town - As Langa commemorates 100 years, making it one of the oldest townships in Cape Town, local leaders say there’s nothing to celebrate while families are living in deteriorating hostels for decades.
Lwazi Phakade, ANC councillor in Langa, said some of the Langa hostels date back as far as the 1920s.
The hostels were initially built for single migrant workers.
Phakade said the flats were not built to accommodate many people.
"Initially, the flats were meant for men. However, now you find a situation where a family of 10 or even more is living in a single room.“ he explained.
“The flats have witnessed many changes in our country, even before Apartheid up to the new democratic dispensation.
“It can’t be in this day and age that our people are still living in hostels that doesn’t have proper sanitation facilities and are faced with an overcrowding problem.”
He said what is now called a celebration to them is a commemoration because nothing has changed for the people of Langa, especially those families who have lived in the hostels for generations.
Phakade stressed they called on the City to rebuild the flats instead of refurbishing them.
‘’We don’t want the city to simply paint doors or fix bathrooms, we want those hostels to be demolished and for the people to be given proper dignified houses,’’ he explained.
“The hostels are a painful reminder of our past.”
Kwezi Mbalo, who reside and grew up at one of the hostels said the living conditions of the hostels has not changed since 1994 and they continue to be worse.
“People are living like a pack of sardines, you will find a situation were almost over 50 people are sharing two or three bathrooms and as a results the place sticks and urine is all over the corridors. Because things have been like this for some time have even stopped complaining. These flats don’t need renovations, they have passed that time, they need to be demolished once and for all, and houses be built for people,” Mbalo.
Asanda Swartbooi, Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) provincial secretary, said the City of Cape Town is best placed to maintain the Apartheid legacy, with all its chronic wounds.
‘’With all the best education in Africa and the acclaimed competency in running the affairs of the city, the City of Cape Town has not produced a simple and cheap model to convert the Langa old flats from single-sex migrant workers’ hostels to family complexes that can also accommodate the disabled old and young members of the families.’’
James Vos, acting Mayco member for Human Settlements, said the City plans to upgrade its hostels and has done a lot of work to date.
He said the City appointed four regional-based consultants to undertake various aspects of development.
‘’Prior to the national lockdown period in 2020, the City had started community engagements around the next phase of the hostel upgrade programme,’’ he stated.
“The planning and implementation of hostel upgrades is guided by the availability of funding for the City,’’ said Vos.
He said the next phase of the hostel upgrade programme would see the construction of an estimated 660 new apartments on the Special Quarters and New Flats sites in Langa at a cost of some R320 million.
‘’Funding applications have been submitted to the National Human Settlements Department and are still under consideration,’’ said Vos.