Rats, rot and rubbish: The decaying state of Algoa Park police flats

Two small dogs scurried across the road between the burnt and broken garages of the two blocks of flats on 6th Avenue, Algoa Park.

No, wait. Not dogs, but giant rats. They disappear into a pile of garbage that fills one of the unused garages, where the door and a section of the brick wall have been destroyed.

Walking past the foul-smelling filth, the closest of the two buildings is clearly in a state of disrepair, and looking up along the stairs of the 12-storey building not a single floor is without a broken window.

Gaining access is easy. There is no front door. It has been completely removed.

The elevator has not been operational for several years, and more recently the metal panels housing the buttons have been stolen.

You may think this is a long-forgotten building, abandoned by its owner and left to decay, or be overrun by the homeless. It is, in fact, the flats of the South African Police Service.

The two buildings, named Gamtoos and Sterrenberg (or Terrenberg, since the S is missing) are meant to house police officers and their families. The two 12-storey buildings consist of about 114 flats each.

The neglect of the buildings is not all that new, but it seems the deterioration has escalated heavily in recent months.

And questions to the relevant government departments, about the maintenance and steady decline of the facilities, painted a picture of disarray as the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) and the SAPS pointed fingers at each other as the custodians of the buildings.

Concerns about the buildings were again highlighted when the DA’s Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate, Retief Odendaal, accompanied by the party’s provincial leader, Andrew Whitfield, and MP Yusuf Cassim, conducted an oversight visit at the decaying police buildings.

Odendaal, who grew up in Algoa Park, said he had received numerous complaints from nearby residents about the buildings, and the health and safety concerns that arise from them.

“I can tell you some horror stories about this place,” a police official said as he walked into the foyer of Gamtoos.

“I’ve been staying here for four years. It was already bad when I first came here, but it keeps going down.”

Only a fence separates the flats from the Algoa Park police station.

All the corridors and common areas are dark because light fittings have either been removed or broken.

On the landing of each flight of stairs, windows provide a beautiful view of Algoa Park and surrounds. However, many of the windows are broken, and on one of the top floors the safety railing in front of the window is missing, leaving no barrier between residents and a deadly drop.

From this vantage point one can also see the state of the garages at the facility, many of which have had their roofs removed or show signs of fire damage.

Graffiti covers many of the walls inside the block of flats, while pieces of broken furniture have been left to rot away outside the inoperable elevators.

Every flight of stairs also provides access to a fire hose. However, maintenance stickers on the hoses revealed that they have not been inspected or serviced since 2021.

“And crime is on the rise. People are breaking into our cars, and the other day one car was left on bricks after all the wheels were stolen,” the police official said.

“This place has no gate and no security, so the culprits could be coming on off the street. But for all we know they could be living among us, because many of the people currently staying here are not even police officials,” he said.

He alleged that police officials were subletting their flats to people outside of the police, and he believed other flats could be occupied by squatters.

At Sterrenberg next door, another police official did not mince his words.

“This place is a shithole.

“You’ve seen the rats? We have an infestation. And we often struggle with water. Some days we have no water, other times only a trickle. They send someone to fix it, but it never lasts long.”

Asked why he chose to stay, he said he moved to Gqeberha from elsewhere in the province and the rent was cheap while he saved up to buy his own place.

While the DPWI is the custodian of most buildings occupied by government entities, national spokesperson Lennox Mabaso said the police flats in Algoa Park were not their responsibility and referred all questions to the police.

“The questions relate to issues of residential management which falls within the responsibility of internal management by the SAPS or any client department.”

However, the police said maintenance of the facilities falls under the DPWI.

“The maintenance of the police residential flats falls under the responsibility of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, which is the custodian of government-owned buildings. SAPS Mount Road is aware of concerns raised regarding the condition of the flats, and all maintenance-related issues are regularly communicated to DPWI for attention and intervention,” police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said.

Regarding allegations of non-SAPS occupants, she said the allocation of accommodation is an internal administrative process managed by SAPS Supply Chain Management, and while they are not aware of any authorised tenants, these concerns need to be reported to the accommodation office for further investigation.

“With regard to waste management, refuse removal services are conducted regularly by the municipality. However, residents also have a responsibility to ensure that they dispose of household waste correctly and make use of the designated refuse collection areas. Failure to do so contributes to unsanitary conditions and may attract rodents and other health hazards,” Janse van Rensburg said.

She added that SAPS management and the DPWI have conducted joint inspections at the facilities, during which maintenance issues were identified for assessment and recorded for further attention.

“No one should be living in these buildings under these conditions,” Odendaal said after his oversight visit.

He said that while Nelson Mandela Bay has several old privately owned buildings decaying to the point of being designated as “problem buildings”, there are also government buildings, such as the Algoa Park police flats, that fit the bill.

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“We came here because surrounding residents have reported an increase in criminal activity, and it is clear to see how the condition of the building, and the living conditions of the occupants, has deteriorated.”

Odendaal said he would write to Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson to request a detailed investigation into the state of the facility, while Whitfield planned to raise the issue before Parliament.

“I think it is important that the parliamentary committee on police is apprised of the conditions under which police members are living and working. These people are putting their lives at risk to keep our communities safe, and they are treated with utter disdain by the state.”

Whitfield said the building served as a metaphor for the state of policing in the country, and believes if members were treated with more respect and dignity everyone would benefit from a police force that feels valued and motivated.

Cassim, who was part of a delegation that visited several of Nelson Mandela Bay’s specialised policing units last year, said it was concerning to see that there were shortcomings not only at the highest level of specialised units, but also on a basic level, such as housing for police members.

He said it demonstrates a breakdown in management and leadership within the police, and is creating a culture of accepting shortcomings, where vehicles and facilities are in a state of disrepair, which in turn affects service delivery. DM