Lavender Hill’s 50-year-old council flats are in a hazardous state of disrepair, yet the City has ignored repeated calls to fix them, say residents.
Ceilings held together by sticky tape, broken roof tiles, windows dangerously close to falling off their hinges, and faulty electrical fittings are some of the problems plaguing the flats, says Clive Jacobs, the community leader who has been helping the tenants.
He said he had approached the Southern Mail after several futile attempts to get the City to act.
Priscilla Heynes, at 21 Aspeling Court, said she slept with one eye open, fearing her window would soon fall off its hinges.
“The window is on the brink of collapse, which may fall either on the bottom neighbours and perhaps seriously injure someone,” she said.
Ms Heynes said Mr Jacobs had been handling complaints from tenants who had no cellphone.
Marlene Note, 80, at 11 Aspeling Court, said her roof had been broken since 2022.
Mr Jacobs said he had seen bird nests and bird eggs in the ceiling of Ms Note’s flat.
“It attracts rodents, and she has adopted cats to get rid of rodents that entered her house through the hole in her roof.
“Light boxes are out of service and only two of the seven light switches are working,” Mr Jacobs said.
Selena Topp, at 12 Van Der Leer Court, uses sticky tape to support the sagging ceiling in her flat, and mice and birds are also nesting in the ceiling.
Patricia Petersen, 70, at 18 Van Der Leer Court, said a hole in her ceiling had only been given a temporary fix, and Mr Jacobs said he feared the “ceiling will soon collapse”.
“These living conditions are becoming unpleasant to live in, and tenants find it difficult to cook food or live in such awful conditions,” said Mr Jacobs.
Mayoral committee member for human settlements Carl Pophaim said the necessary repairs would be done in due course.
“Due to the high demand for repairs at our public housing rental units, the City prioritises critical and emergency work across the metro. We operate using a triage model to ensure the most urgent needs are addressed first.
“The City uses rental income for maintenance, and the majority of service requests unfortunately involve the vandalism of units. By working together to prevent vandalism, we could use our limited resources to prioritise other urgent maintenance matters.
“This is a multi-year ongoing project, and the City is ramping up repair and maintenance efforts as the budget becomes available. Our maintenance and upgrades of the units are very dependent on rental income.
“All the aforementioned rental units will be assessed, and if the tenants are not available, a notice will be left with contact information for further inquiries and assistance.”
Mr Pophaim said council housing underwent “continuous maintenance and upgrades”.
He added: “The upgrades are prioritised based on the condition of critical infrastructure requiring replacement, ensuring that the most critical assets are addressed first.”
Maintenance and upgrades of more than 45 000 council housing units continued to be a priority programme, he said.
“We are one of the largest landlords in South Africa. The task is huge and the resources limited. However, the City’s Human settlements directorate has a total priority investment in public housing maintenance and repairs of more than R1.2 billion over the next three years.
“We therefore have a complex, multi-year and thorough maintenance programme rolled out, based on data, starting with emergency work such as staircases.”
