The landlord has agreed to listen to grievances as non-payment threatens to bring the social housing unit to a standstill like it did in Witbank’s Dingindoda.
Tenants at Hope City flats in Middelburg are refusing to pay their monthly rent as part of forcing the management of the social housing unit to come to the table.
The Steve Tshwete Housing Association (STHA) is trying to put out the fire as tenants accuse the association of mistreating them, placing them in a position where they can’t receive municipal services as it allegedly owes the municipality R3-million.
On Friday 18 February 2022, the tenants showed a force of unity when they protested outside the main gate of the flats, burning tyres and old mattress beds as part of forcing the association’s management to come to solve the issues.
ALSO SEE: War between George Xaba and Dingindoda tenants still on
The tenants accuse Hope City landlord Thomas Ntuli of unlawfully evicting them and confiscating their personal belongings as well as putting unfair rules in place.
#013News Tenants at Middleburg's Hope City in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality accuse landlord Thomas Ntuli of mistreating them, therefore refusing to pay their monthly rent until issues are solved pic.twitter.com/J2xFBQ6oWs
— 013NEWS (@my013News) February 20, 2022
The tenants have stopped paying rent as they are no longer accessing municipal services.
“We are gatvol,” one of the tenants, Bhekisizwe Motaung said when speaking to the 013NEWS reporter.
“We no longer want to pay rent directly to Ntuli because he is owing the municipality about 3 million rands,” Motaung said.
Motaung said as tenants they are being prevented from buying electricity at the municipality and cannot access municipal services such as waste collection due to the social housing association owing money to the Steve Tshwete local municipality.
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He added that they elected a committee tasked with the establishment of a trust account from which the municipality will be paid directly.
“It is clear that the rent we are paying goes straight to Ntuli’s pockets,” he said.
More than 3 years ago, the uThingo Park – nicknamed Dingindoda – in Witbank’s Tasbet Park was brought to a standstill after tenants refused to pay rent to landlord George Xaba, accusing Xaba of enriching himself at their expense. The matter is still not solved and the area has gone into ruins as the Emalahleni Housing Unit got paralysed by the anger of the tenants and as a result found it hard to maintain the area.
Seems Ntuli is refusing to let the situation at Hope City go out of hand and lead to another Dingindoda.
Motaung said: “We no longer want to pay him because he is a third party and we are suffering [because of him].”
Matshepo Mabutla, another Hope City tenant, said she could not write exams last year after her laptop which contained previous question papers and other study materials was confiscated by Ntuli over issues of non-payment.
“He took my laptop, kettle and television after I withheld the rent money,” she told the reporter.
When addressing the angry tenants while surrounded by public order cops Ntuli said he acknowledged all concerns from the tenants and will call a meeting to address them.
“I will make sure I issue a circular to the committee on Monday 21 February 2022 for a meeting invitation with all the stakeholders involved,” he told the fuming tenants.
They also alleged that Ntuli introduced a biometric system denying some tenants gate access.
“Some are blocked for owing R80. They cannot come into the residence and go out because the fingerprint system blocks them,” said Michael Nkosi, another tenant at Hope City.
Nkosi also said that visitors are made to leave their IDs at the gate. “Visitors are forced to leave their IDs at the gate and fined R350 if they stay for more than 3 days,” he said. “This is unacceptable and we did not agree to it”.
In response to the security system, Ntuli said he has a duty to ensure that tenants are safe. “It is my responsibility to make sure everyone is safe. We have past experiences where people come into the residence pretending to be visitors but to commit a crime.”
(edited by LS)
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