After living in a shack with my wife and two children for over 10 years, I had already given up on the dream of staying in a spacious home I could call my own. I still don't believe that I now stay here, this is proof that dreams do come true sometimes."
A joyful Lungelo Nkosi utters these words with a quivering voice on a bitingly cold and rainy autumn Monday morning in Dobsonville, west of Soweto, his hands shivering. Nkosi is one of the beneficiaries of the newly built Dobsonville mega social housing project on Letale Street, in extension 2.
A security guard at one of the City of Joburg's health facilities in the township, Nkosi used to dread the winter season because the rented shack he previously occupied with his family would get extremely cold.
“In winter my daughter used to cry a lot about the cold shack when preparing for school, but there was nothing I could do. I don't earn enough to qualify for a home loan," says the father of one.
His neighbour, Lebohang Thipe had to separate from her two children in 2014 because the back-room she rented in Dobsonville was very small to accommodate her growing family.
“When I realised that I was pregnant earlier in 2014, I decided to send my eldest children home to my parents in Limpopo because the room I rented with my husband was just too small to accommodate all of us," Thipe explains.
Like Nkosi, she now lives in a comfortable apartment and looks forward to her children's return to Joburg next year. “It's every parent's dream to raise their children, sending my children to Limpopo really broke my heart," says a tearful Thipe.
She says her family's life changed for the better the day she received a call informing her that their application for an apartment had been approved. “I even called my relatives in Limpopo to come see my new place," the excited mother adds.
Rebecca Mtotywa, a college clerk, shares Thipe's sentiments. “I have already started to look for a nearby school for my son; I want him to come stay with me from next year because after every three months I have to travel home in the Eastern Cape to visit him," Mtotywa says.
The Dobsonville development looks spectacular in brightly painted pink, yellow and green coloured walls and offers comfortable homes for low-income earners. The project is part of the City's massive plan to meet the growing demand for housing and improve the quality of life for people in lower income brackets.
About R200-million rands was invested in the project, which delivered a total of 502 four-storey rental apartments, comprising 152 one-bedroom and 350 two-bedroom units, which accommodate mixed-income households with a gross salary ranging between R1 500 and R15 000 per household, per month.
The project, which started in 2014 was overseen by the Johannesburg Social Housing company (JOSHCO), a City-owned entity mandated to provide and manage affordable rental housing stock for the lower income market, in an effort to eliminate the housing backlog.
JOSCHO Chief Executive, Victor Rambau says the rate with which the entity is building social houses is much slower in contrast to the influx of people arriving in Johannesburg.
“Johannesburg being South Africa's economic hub, people continue to arrive here in search of new opportunities. We are expected as the municipality to respond in terms of service delivery and provisions of social housing to meet the demand," Rambau explains.
He says the Dobsonville housing development is a response to rapid in-migration into Johannesburg as a whole.
The Dobsonville development is built on land previously housing a hostel which was used by IFP residents as a springboard for a spate of political attacks on community members in the late 1980s. Following counter attacks by community members, hostel dwellers fled, leaving the dwelling in ruin. In 2014, the City demolished the dilapidated structure completely to make way for subsidised rental housing.
There were a number of positive spinoffs for locals during the building process, with some Soweto residents employed as builders, plumbers and artisans while others benefitted new skills from doing miscellaneous construction jobs.
Besides the Dobsonville project, the City's drive to replace old hostels with sustainable housing has progressed in earnest over the years, with the Jabulani, Diepkloof, Meadowlands, Orlando West, Dube, as well as the Mapetla, and Klipspruit hostels having undergo similar changes.The Nancefield, Madala, and Helen Joseph hostels are currently undergoing refurbishment, upgrading and conversion to make them suitable for habitation.
Written by Takalani Sioga
