City hostel projects engagements continue

13 March 2020

The important community engagements about the City of Cape Town’s ongoing hostel transformation programme is continuing.Tomorrow, on Saturday 14 March 2020, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi, will meet with ward councillors and community representatives from Nyanga (Super Nkathazo and Hlazo Village), Langa and Gugulethu (Section 2 and Section 3) in Maitland about the programme. Read more below:

For many years the City has worked to uplift the lives and homes of the people living in the hostels that South Africa inherited from the country’s apartheid-era past.

The programme has to date placed particular focus on Langa. As one of the city’s oldest suburbs, it is where some of Cape Town’s worst affected hostels are located. However, the City is looking at the situation holistically and inclusively. Cape Town has approximately 11 000 hostel bed spaces within Gugulethu, Langa and Nyanga.

A survey was undertaken to identify the status of the hostel bed spaces within the city in 2010. Based on this survey, the hostels were ranked in terms of the severity of their condition. By doing this, an objective model could be used to determine the priorities for this programme.

About R250 million has been spent on the programme thus far and 463 new apartments have been built. The next phase of the programme will start in Langa over the next few months and will see the construction of an estimated 660 new apartments at the Special Quarters and New Flats sites in Langa at a cost of some R320 million.

‘We are committed to continuing to engage with the affected communities because this programme is based on partnerships and a desire to ensure that those who are worst off, are helped as quickly as possible. Over the next weeks and months, we are engaging various affected communities and potential beneficiaries. We need to follow a systematic and transparent approach as we cannot transform all of the areas at the same time. Community support is vital. From the City’s side, we will do everything in our power to get the programmes rolled out in the shortest possible time.

‘This programme is about more than enhancing the hostels themselves. It’s about redress, transforming the daily lives of some of the most vulnerable people in South Africa and giving self-respect and a greater sense of belonging to families once separated and stripped of their dignity by the migrant labour system and apartheid legislation in South Africa. Although the majority of the worst hostels are situated in Langa, the City decided to appoint a panel of consultants to do framework planning for all the hostel areas within Cape Town to ensure that this work is completed timeously,’ said Councillor Booi.

The history:
Under the apartheid regime, the hostels in Langa and other areas in Cape Town and South Africa were built for black African men who were employed as labourers for various companies within the larger cities of South Africa. During this period, it was a prerequisite of employment for companies to provide hostel accommodation for their labourers. This system not only impacted on the health and safety and socio-economic and customary circumstances of workers, but had a huge impact on family life and family units.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office