'Govt doesn't care about us': Evicted Alex resident losing hope of having dignified housing

JOHANNESBURG - Homeless Alexandra residents who’ve been evicted from government-owned flats are leading a protest, demanding that they be allowed to occupy the vacant multi-storey buildings.

Joburg Human Settlements MMC Mlungisi Mabaso is expected to visit the flats on Friday afternoon to provide an update on their allocation.

The flats were built in 2020 to accommodate people living in high-density communities as a response to COVID-19 regulations but they were never officially allocated, leading to hundreds of families occupying them illegally earlier this year.

The City of Joburg recently evicted these families, leaving some of them living on the roadside just outside the flats.

Homeless Alexander residents who were evicted from the container flats are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Human Settlements MMC, hoping his visit will bring some good news.

However, Klass Lolo, who has been living on the roadside since his eviction, said that he was starting to lose hope of being provided with dignified housing.

"These guys don't care about us, government doesn't care about us, not at all. They only come to us when they want our votes."

The City of Joburg has hired a private security company to prevent another illegal invasion of the government-owned container flats.

But, the homeless residents say if push comes to shove, they will invade the flats.