R119m Glebelands Revamp

10 July, 2008

Story Written By Samantha Moodley

Family flats and houses for 792 people were opened this month at Umlazi’s Glebelands Hostel – an institution built during the apartheid era to house men only. It is the first phase of a project to convert hostels into community residential units and has cost the provincial government R119-million.The units will accommodate 576 people in 144 newly built two-bedroom flats, with a further 216 people accommodated in 40 renovated four-bedroom houses.

City councillors and the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mike Mabuyakhulu, officially opened the development. Mabuyakhulu handed over a cheque for R119-million to eThekwini at the opening. Maintenance The money will be used by the City to maintain newly revamped hostels in the metro area, including Glebelands, which were formerly the responsibility of the province.

Thus far seven of KwaZulu-Natal’s 22 hostels have been redeveloped and the provincial Department of Housing is set to spend a further R64-million to complete the project.

It is expected that by 2010, R280-million will have been spent on upgrading hostels in the province and building the new family units. Mabuyakhulu said: “We want to move away from the hostel setting where four to six males were staying in one room without their families. “With this programme they can live with their families in their own houses. We are changing people’s lives so they live in dignified areas. We want to restore the dignity of our people,” he said.

Mabuyakhulu said the department was now building 108 new three-bedroom units at Glebelands, which will house more than 680 people. He said his department would be increasing the budget allocations to the hostel project every year. But there would be no free rides. “The Province and Municipality will determine the rates for the units. We will consider that people are poor around here, but people must be prepared to pay,” said Mabuyakhulu.

moodleysamantha@durban.gov.za

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