Residents in these government flats in Wentworth, Durban, complain of broken toilets, leaking pipes, faulty electricity and cracking walls.
- People living at government flats in Wentworth, Durban, since 2010, say the buildings are in an unacceptable and potentially life-threatening condition.
- They complain of cracking and tilting walls, broken toilets, leaking pipes and electricity faults.
- The housing project, which used an “alternative building scheme to bricks”, was a joint venture by the eThekwini Municipality and KwaZulu-Natal government at a cost of about R43-million.
- Officials of eThekwini municipality say they will visit the flats next week to assess them for repairs.
Broken toilets, leaking pipes, faulty electricity and cracking walls are among the problems families face living in government flats in Wentworth, Durban.
The flats, on the corner of Lansdowne and Silvertree roads, were a joint venture housing project of the eThekwini Municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal human settlements department, at a cost of about R43-million.
Allan Holmes, a resident at the flats and ward 68 housing committee chairperson, told GroundUp that they were relocated to the 128 units in April 2010, from an area known as “the barracks”, very close to an oil refinery, which they had been occupying for about 37 years.
But their expectations of decent housing were disappointed.
“When we arrived, most things needed to be repaired. Pipes were already leaking. Windows started falling out honest a few months later.
“Now we are panicked, because we believe a broken sewerage scheme, leaking baths, faulty electricity infrastructure, as well as leaning walls that maintain holes in them.”
Holmes said they want the municipality to immediately refurbish the flats or send them back to live at the barracks.
Many residents complain that their units are leaking and mouldy.
Community leader Elaine Pieters Aubrey says they gain been in talks with the eThekwini municipality since 2010 about the poor workmanship.
“The flats were built on swampy land and that’s why most of the units are cracking. We are living in dread, because we don’t know when the flats are going to plunge down,” she said.
Aliris Mallyon said she has been living at the flats for 13 years and there maintain been problems ever since she moved in.
“Water is leaking from the apartment above, and it is damaging my furniture. I live in a two-bedroomed unit with my three children and 61-year-old mother,” she said.
Rosemary Finn said she shares her two-bedroomed flat and small kitchen with 13 other family members. She said the windows are rusted and falling apart. She is worried about plugs not working and she says there is water on the electric cables.
Ward 68 Councillor Aubrey Snyman (DA) said he has been struggling to acquire the municipality to refurbish the flats and to fix the sewerage and leaking pipes.
“I wish they can build a proper (building) complex, because it is clear this project is not qualified at all,” said Snyman.
Themba Mvubu, chairperson of eThekwini Municipality human settlements and Infrastructure services committee, told GroundUp that officials planned to visit the flats next week to assess them for repairs.
Municipal spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo said that the Lansdowne housing project was built with an “alternative building scheme to bricks, comprising steel frame, fibre concrete board and aerated concrete”.
Khuzwayo said that a National Home Builders Registration Council had assessed the flats and identified remedial measures.
“The repair and rebuilding are reliant on funding being made available by the KwaZulu-Natal human settlements department. An application for the funding has been sent,” said Khuzwayo.
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suicide crusher
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”
Blister
Nigeria: You have two cows. You convince an old American woman to invest in them, but pocket the money and run.