The DA has called for hostel dwellers to be given the right of return after being relocated as part of the City of Johannesburg’s ambitious hostel revitalisation unitary plan, which will lead to temporary relocations.

On Tuesday, the City of Joburg council approved the plan first introduced to the entire leadership of izinduna in March by Human Settlements MMC Mlungisi Mabaso with Mayor Dada Morero, former council speaker Nobuhle Mthembu, Gauteng Human Settlements and e-Government MECs, Tasneem Motara and Bonginkosi Dlamini, respectively.

Mabaso said the plan also proposes shifting away from the traditional model where the government solely funds hostels and will instead invite developers and funders to partner with the city to alleviate budget constraints.

“The adoption of this plan by the council is a significant boost for the people living in the hostels. It allows us to act swiftly in redeveloping the hostels and changing the way these spaces are perceived for the better,” he said.

According to the plan, several sites across the city will be linked to specific hostels for temporary relocation and rotation during the construction phases of the hostel redevelopment programme.

The municipality has promised that city and/or publicly-owned properties are preferred as first options for relocation and rotation, and privately-owned properties will be considered and acquired where necessary.

Council approved plans for town planning applications to be brought for the proposed redevelopment of Diepkloof, Meadowlands, Orlando West, Dube, Jabulani, Nancefield, Mapetla, Dobsonville, Madala, KwaNobuhle, and Helen Joseph hostels.

The hostels are in regions D (Soweto) and E (Alexandra), and the city will now approach and engage directly with banks and financial institutions to test appetite with a view to garnering a master developer(s) to implement the hostels revitalisation unitary plan products.

In addition, the municipality is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Gauteng Human Settlements Department on the redevelopment of hostels situated in Soweto.

The 30% and 20% of the breaking new ground components of the Linksfield and Bankenwuld mixed housing projects reserved for implementation of the Alexandra Tri-Hostel overlay strategy was also approved.

DA councillor Strike Rambani said the hostels are in a bad state and beyond repair, having been built with apartheid spatial planning.

He noted that funding details remain uncertain, as the plan heavily relies on profit-sharing with private developers and risk-sharing with banks.

“The DA calls for a transparent governance framework to ensure accountability when timelines shift, quality diminishes, or profit projections fall short. We cannot afford finger-pointing while residents remain in limbo,” Rambani explained.

He called on hostel dwellers’ rights to be protected, and that the promise of the right to return sounds good on paper, but too many relocation projects in the past have broken this promise.

Rambani also warned that without a binding allocation strategy and a strong residents’ forum, the plan risks displacing the very same people it claims to uplift.

IFP councillor Nkhosikhona Khanyile said the plan will help change the lives of hostel dwellers and bring back dignity to hostels, where up to 14 people can share one room without any privacy.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za

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