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Alberton's elderly residing at Silwerkroon flats are exposed to terrible conditions as the building is not properly and regularly maintained.

This block of flats owned by Ekurhuleni has been neglected for years and the elderly residents are suffering. Eight rooms are standing empty because there is no money to have them painted and fixed.

The gutters are leaking, the ceilings are damaged, and the metal sheets that cover the parking area are rusted and need to be replaced.

The fire escape area has also not been properly maintained, and the fire extinguishers were last serviced in 2016.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow MEC for Human Settlements, Mervyn Cirota MPL, the DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Human Settlements, Evert Du Plessis MPL, the DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development, Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL, and the DA Ekurhuleni Councillors, Cllr Philip Thamahane, Cllr Sinethemba Matiwane, and Cllr Victor Lukhele, conducted an oversight inspection at Silwerkroon yesterday.

See the photos here, here, here.

We discovered that the heat pumps installed in front of every flat for residents to save on electricity by the Gauteng Provincial Government are not working because they have not been properly maintained.

The DA will be tabling questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to the MEC for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile as well as the MEC for Social Development, Mbali Hlophe to determine:

1.What maintenance has been done on the building in the last three years.
2.What interaction there has been between the Ekurhuleni department of Human Settlements and the Provincial Department of Human Settlements to ensure a co-ordinated approach in maintaining the building.
3.When an inspection will be done to determine the extent of the maintenance required and when repairs will begin
4.What the conditions of agreement were regarding maintenance when they donated heat pumps to Ekurhuleni for this building.

The DA will further file questions to the respective MEC’s and return in a few months to examine and analyze progress made.

Issued by Mervyn Cirota MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Human Settlements