Joburg vows to deliver water, electricity to protest-hit Diepkloof Hostel

Residents of the hostel took to the streets on Monday, demanding essential services such as running water.

Three people were arrested on charges of public violence.

The department’s executive director Patrick Phophi said the electricity issue will be resolved through an R16 million agreement reached with City Power.

"We wrote to City Power last year that they need to electrify the area. They said they needed R15.9 million, and we then signed a service-level agreement. To date, one portion has been done, and the contractor will go back and complete the work.

"I have met with City Power yesterday, and we agreed that the contractor has to be back on site and complete the work, and then we would reticulate the inside of the housing units so that everybody has electricity."

Phophi said they will also instruct Johannesburg Water to install water pipes at the hostel.

"The provision of water and sanitation, we shall instruct Joburg Water, because they act on instruction, and we manage the hostel. The hostel was built in the apartheid era, and the situation is that the infrastructure in the space is non-functional."

Meanwhile, the chairperson of the IFP in Gauteng Bonginkosi Dhlamini said most hostels are neglected when it comes to service delivery.

"We note the ongoing violence in Diepkloof as a mere reflection of the prevailing inhabitable conditions facing hostel communities throughout Gauteng. We find it concerning that the majority of hostels in the province remain poorly attended to.

"Over the years, the IFP Gauteng has been consistent in highlighting the plight of hostel communities in the province, cautioning that the government’s negligence and lack of services in hostels would potentially manifest in waves of violence such the one we are seeing now in Diepkloof and other areas," he added.

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