Residents of De Korte Court, in Lavender Hill, are demanding that their crumbling staircases be replaced by the City of Cape Town.
They say their flats have been neglected and the worn out staircases are dangerous.
Almost R200 million has been spent on staircase upgrades by the City since 2018, which includes the repair and replacement of over 1 300 priority staircases.
In 2020 the residents of Ashley Court complained that their staircase upgrade had been ignored (“New staircases delay at Lavender Hill court”, March 25 2020).
At the time, Malusi Booi, former mayoral committee member for human settlements, outlined the Lavender Hill courts upgrade plan.
He said the City’s human settlements directorate was investing R146 million into Phase 1 of its upgrading and replacing of pre-cast staircases programme.
Over the 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial year approximately 969 old pre-cast staircases at its multi-storey rental units across the metro were to be upgraded or replaced. He said the staircase programme had started in August 2018 in Parkwood, Retreat and Lavender Hill and many other areas.
But De Korte court residents said their court is falling apart.
“The staircases are unstable, the court needs paint, everything is broken and we need to know why our court and Muir and De Waal courts are being neglected,“ said Faizel Petersen.
Shamiela Jacobs, who lives downstairs, said the City maintenance came to temporarily fix the stairs at De Korte court. “I’ve been living in this court for over 20 years and they have never upgraded these flats ever since.
“The courts next to us had their staircases, windows repaired and flats painted. Why did they skip our court?”
Marjory Simons, who lives upstairs, said her staircase will “definitely crumble in a year’s time with all the cracks.”
She said the City maintenance came to fix one of the staircases and temporarily put a pole under the staircase to hold it up. “The pole is not going to hold it up, it is going to fall because it is moving.”
Ms Simons said her neighbour Margaret Van Zyl, 80, fell off the staircase, which had a missing slab. She came back from hospital but her back is still sore and she can’t walk up the stairs.”
Zulfa Mkoko, who lives downstairs, said “the windows are horrible. The walls are wet and we have to pull the beds away from the walls.”
“I live under the stairs and it will soon break and fall on us. These flats have not been painted for 20 years. Every court, on the road side is fixed but not the inside flats.
Chantal Taloo, who lives upstairs, said she fell on the stairs in October and broke her leg.
Community worker Clive Jacobs said people are frustrated as the City has been upgrading selected courts.
“Now people of De Korte and Meer court are complaining about the broken staircases. And the City only fixed the staircases temporarily until they get new staircases within the next financial year.”
Mr Jacobs said the main issue is that the City does not inform the people about “the nitty gritty of the budget process and when they will be getting their new staircases.
“I agree with them that the staircases are a mess and the windows are falling out. A lady fractured her hand on one of the broken windows and an old lady fell from the stairs.
“My community’s concerns become my concern. I suggested they form a court committee and I will help them put it together.”
Carl Pophaim, Mayoral committee member for human settlements, said the City is rolling out its staircase repair and upgrade programme across the metro in phases and their teams are urgently attending to all repairs which pose a safety risk to residents and tenants.
“The City is expanding its programme with a boost to Area South and much focus will be on this area over the months ahead.”
Mr Pophaim said the health and safety of City tenants “is our priority”.
“We call on tenants and residents to please report maintenance matters that pose a safety risk to residents so that City teams can be deployed to attend to the requests urgently. Due to the large volumes of rental stock, some 45 000 units, the City prioritises repairs based on service requests received, safety and if they are of an emergency nature.”
Log a service request with the Human Settlements Directorate’s Call Centre on 021 444 0333.