Uncertainty, looming eviction, and neglected service delivery at the Brandwag Flats in Bloemfontein have been the centre of disputes between the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) and residents. One thing that stands out is that the residents are tired of what they call “love letters” from the municipality. “Each and every year, we find threatening love letters that tell us that we have to pay a certain amount or there will be evictions. They are threatening us, but we still maintain ourselves,” said one of the residents who decided to share their side of the story.
According to the residents, issues at the flats started around 2017, when they decided that the lack of service delivery at the flats was becoming an issue. “We realised there was no maintenance, and we were paying money into different accounts. I went to the Free State Social Housing Company (FRESHCO) to clarify what was going on. I did not get any answers from them about the liquidation,” another resident explained. She noted that in 2019, the community rallied together and approached MMM, intending to pay their accounts directly to the municipality. “We did not trust anyone,” she added.
The residents emphasised that the verification process is not acceptable, as there is no consideration for those who are unemployed, aged, or sick. “They do not understand the real issues here.” They have requested MMM to indicate what they are expected to pay, and they, as residents, will comply. “We cannot decide for ourselves. It is social housing, so it has to be affordable. We want something in writing so that the Brandwag people can know. Most of us are not working, and if you guys are saying we must move out, where are we going to go?” she asked.
However, the MMM HOD for Planning, Economic & Rural Development and Human Settlements, Nokuthula Chakane, told the publication that the process to regularise the flats started in August 2024, and residents have been adequately informed about the process. The process included SHRA, NHFC, and the provincial Human Settlements Department. She noted that there were a number of community meetings before the process was in full effect. “At the time, the collection rate was 0,04%. So, that was like three units out of the 1051 units. We then said we would give out forms to everyone in the units, but people were applying for the same unit. We decided to restart the process, and we did the door-to-door process of verification,” Chakane explained. She added that the final date for the regularisation to take effect was postponed multiple times. “We are under pressure because FRESHCO still owes the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) about R281 million that was used to fund the project. FRESHCO is no longer there, and now it is the municipality’s land that is at risk,” she explained.
MMM aims to pay what is needed to address the social housing element that is necessary in the community. “We’ve tried to be very lenient as directed by our city manager as well as the political principles by trying to ensure that we do this as humanely as possible, hence we kept on extending and extending.” Residents who choose to stay at the flats are required to apply and pay into the correct accounts.
Chakane further noted that self-appointed “landlords” have delayed the process. “The municipality has to make an alternative available for the unemployed and indigent. Those people will be part of our sites that were taken to the council to allocate. We would be decanting those that have passed our screening. You also have people who are earning less than R3500, and those groups will apply for our community residential units. That will be handed over to us, as the municipality, to manage,” she explained. The people who are within the threshold – between R3500 and R22,000 – are to sign the lease agreements to continue to stay at Brandwag.
Dr Martie Bloem, an attorney and legal coordinator at the Free State Centre for Human Rights Law Clinic (FSCHR), said that as the current occupants of the Brandwag Housing Project were served with notices of an application for their eviction, the FSCHR Law Clinic acts in this application in the interest of a group of unidentified persons, including children, single mothers, disabled, and elderly persons, who will be “disproportionately and detrimentally affected if an eviction order is granted on an unopposed basis.” “We are worried about the large group of people who would be detrimentally affected by an eviction order, and we are not able to communicate effectively with such a large group of unidentified individuals,” she explained.
Dr Bloem noted that the application for eviction of the occupants is still pending, and it is up to the courts to establish whether the municipality and the housing regulatory authority have complied with all their constitutional and legislative duties before the eviction will be granted. “Currently, it is our hope that the community, the municipality, and the housing regulatory authority will be able to reach an agreement in order for them to comply with the housing requirements and that the eviction of all the current occupants would be reconsidered,” she concluded.
Gypseenia Lion
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