--- title: "Abandoned hostel residents sink further into squalor as City of Cape Town quibbles over Problem Building Bylaw" description: "The 34-roomed dome building in Gugulethu has been abandoned for about 20 years and no one has taken responsibility for fixing it." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "GROUNDUP" author: "Mary-Anne Gontsana" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/mary-anne-gontsana/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-02-09-abandoned-hostel-residents-sink-further-into-squalor-as-city-of-cape-town-quibbles-over-problem-building-bylaw/" published: "2023-02-09T12:58:20" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 796 --- # Abandoned hostel residents sink further into squalor as City of Cape Town quibbles over Problem Building Bylaw > The 34-roomed dome building in Gugulethu has been abandoned for about 20 years and no one has taken responsibility for fixing it. By Mary-Anne Gontsana · Published 9 February 2023, 14:58 SAST ## Key points - Residents of a Gugulethu, Cape Town building near Kanana informal settlement are living in deplorable conditions, with broken windows, rat and cockroach infestations, and no access to running water. Most of the doors have no handles and are locked with chains and padlocks. Residents have asked the City of Cape Town for help but the property is privately owned - making it difficult to determine who owns it. The City has the power to declare the building derelict and expropriate the property, however they cannot share information on who owns it without permission. Good party general secretary Brett Herron has visited residents twice and asked the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning to conduct an inspection, with a follow-up inspection planned for later this month. If action is not taken soon, residents will continue to suffer in these conditions with no hope for a better future. - Residents of a dilapidated building in Gugulethu, Cape Town, say their living conditions have worsened and are unbearable on hot days. - The building was originally built as a hostel for migrant labourers by private property developers at the height of apartheid. - Residents have asked the City of Cape Town for help but the property is privately owned and the City cannot provide services without the owner’s consent. - The registered owner of the property is an inactive closed corporation which was deregistered in 2010. The City has the power to declare the building derelict and to expropriate it. ## Content A strong stench of decay hangs in the air around a shallow pool of stagnant water filled with algae and rubbish. The pool fills the centre courtyard seen from the first-floor balcony of a dilapidated building in Gugulethu, Cape Town. “That is my view every day while I live in my toilet-sized flat,” says Bulelwa Papu. She lives in one of the 34 small rooms in the dome-shaped building near Kanana informal settlement. We first [visited](https://www.groundup.org.za/article/shallow-pool-faeces-and-rubble-centre-building-occupied-families/) the occupied building in August 2021. Conditions were filthy and toilets were broken. Now residents say their situation has deteriorated even more and life is unbearable on hot days. “We have rats, mice, flying cockroaches and geckos. My arms have these bumps all over with mosquito bites,” says Nolufefe Zondani, who has been living in one of the flats for about 20 years. Most of the doors have no handles and residents use chains and padlocks to lock them. All the windows are broken and covered with cardboard to keep some of the cold wind and rain out. The communal bathrooms and toilets do not have a ceiling and the toilets do not flush. Residents say they are desperate for help and have asked the City of Cape Town on a number of occasions, but the property is privately owned. ![This pink stagnant water covers the centre of the building’s courtyard and smells of decay. (Photo: Mary-Anne Gontsana)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/H6BJF6VAsajtcvyqlKlEC9gkuN4=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/abandoned_gugz_flats.jpeg) *This pink stagnant water covers the centre of the building’s courtyard and smells of decay. (Photo: Mary-Anne Gontsana)* “We have no water in the building. We share one communal tap outside by the entrance. When you need the toilet, you first have to fill a bucket of water then take it with you to flush the toilet,” says Zondani. Another resident Zameka Ntlombe says most of the residents living in the building are unemployed. “Most of us are on the housing list waiting. We are waiting for the day when we can get our own homes and leave this place because it doesn’t seem like anybody’s prepared to fix it. I have been on the housing list since 2005,” says Ntlombe. Following *GroundUp*’s article in 2021, Good party general secretary, Brett Herron, visited residents in the building twice. He approached the provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. The building was built as a hostel for “migrant labourers” by private property developers at the height of apartheid. --- **Visit [*Daily Maverick's* home page](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage) for more news, analysis and investigations** --- “Because the hostels weren’t built by the state, they are regarded as private property by the City of Cape Town. As a consequence, residents can’t rely on the City for services. “Instead of abandoning these people, the City would be well-advised to demonstrate responsible leadership by expropriating the hostels and making them fit for human habitation,” said Herron. In response to Herron’s request, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning department spokesperson Rudolf van Jaarsveldt said officials had conducted an inspection in November last year. “Since no significant degradation of the environment was detected on the day of the inspection, the issuing of a notice could not be justified.” Van Jaarsveldt said officials from the department plan to do a follow-up inspection later this month. “This will be followed by the issuance of either a warning letter or pre-directive to the landowner, instructing him to take the necessary legal steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people residing in the hostel,” he said. The ward councillor had acknowledged that the building is falling apart. He had told *GroundUp* that the City’s hands were tied because the municipality cannot provide services on private property without the owner’s consent. #### **Who owns the property?** Determining the owner of the property has proven to be a mission. First, we asked the City and the Department for the details of the owner but we were informed this information could not be shared without the permission of the owner. The City’s Wayne Dyason said, “Problem Building Unit confirms that the property can be investigated in terms of the Problem Building Bylaw, 2020. The Popia Act and other legislation dictates that the City is not allowed to share such information without the permission of the owner.” \[We are unconvinced this is a correct legal interpretation of Popia — *GroundUp* editor.\] A standard search of property databases didn’t elicit much information. But with the assistance of a lawyer, we managed to find that the property was bought by G and W Leases in the 1990s. This closed corporation’s members were Sydney Wolpert and Leon Glaser, both of whom have died. The corporation itself was deregistered in July 2010, but it remains the registered owner of the property. A lawyer informed us that the City does have the power to declare the building derelict and to expropriate the property, something it does quite often. **DM** *First published by*[*GroundUp*](https://www.groundup.org.za/article/families-in-abandoned-hostel-want-the-city-to-help-them-fix-it/)*.* ![Image](https://thirdpartyhits.groundup.org.za/counter/hit/dailymaverick/2023-02-09-families-in-abandoned-hostel-want-the-city-to-help-them-fix-it/)