Exactly one year and one day ago, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale met community leaders at the Thokoza Hostel to hear complaints about their "appalling" living conditions.
At the time he pledged the hostel would be upgraded to provide decent accommodation for residents.
Yesterday however he told Parliament the project had stalled.
Speaking during question time in the National Assembly, Sexwale said the hostels would now get electricity first and an upgrade later.
"It is heart-rending. We have got a very serious problem - that if you start upgrading it is going to take a long long time. They (Thokoza hostel residents) must be able to have lights, warm water, and be able to cook for the children," Sexwale said.
"If we are going to subject them to the total upgrading of the hostel, that is a long haul. We just have to help those people in such a way that at a later stage, the upgrading can be done there," he said.
Sexwale blamed the delay on the fact that his department was "reviewing its human settlements development model in line with the new service delivery approach of the outcomes-based targets".
At the time he pledged the hostel would be upgraded to provide decent accommodation for residents.
Yesterday however he told Parliament the project had stalled.
Speaking during question time in the National Assembly, Sexwale said the hostels would now get electricity first and an upgrade later.
"It is heart-rending. We have got a very serious problem - that if you start upgrading it is going to take a long long time. They (Thokoza hostel residents) must be able to have lights, warm water, and be able to cook for the children," Sexwale said.
"If we are going to subject them to the total upgrading of the hostel, that is a long haul. We just have to help those people in such a way that at a later stage, the upgrading can be done there," he said.
Sexwale blamed the delay on the fact that his department was "reviewing its human settlements development model in line with the new service delivery approach of the outcomes-based targets".
"I am not going to throw good money at a bad project"
He said he had just signed his performance agreement with President Jacob Zuma last month and that that had "changed the pace".Sexwale did not explain exactly how his new performance agreement affected the pace of change planned for Thokoza hostel. But he said: "I am not going to throw good money at a bad project".
Responding to Sexwale's statement, IFP MP Petros Sithole said: "I am shocked now because he announced that he was going to fund the rectification of Thokoza. The Ekurhuleni municipality has funded it, expecting the minister to refund them, so if the minister says he has not yet started to refund them, that is a problem."
Even an ANC MP asked "how long will it take your department to fulfil this promise? The municipality is accused of failing to deliver".
Sexwale told them funds were available for the hostel electrification.
"How long this is going to take depends on electricians as soon as we give them the funding," he said.
Sowetan reported last year that the residents were angry at the slow pace of delivering water, electricity and sanitation. They also raised concerns at the slow pace of rebuilding hostels into family units.
Government has come up with several excuses, with Ekhuruleni mayor Ntombi Mekgwe telling residents last year that converting hostels into family units was on hold as the Gauteng housing department still had to approve geo-technical studies of the dolomitic land on which the hostels were built.
- Sowetan
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