1. (a) (i) (ii) (iii) The hostel environment together with the nomadic nature of occupants have proven to be a difficult task for municipalities as managing agents to keep track of the number of persons occupying units. Illegal invasions together with sub-letting has exacerbated this problem to such an extent that most legal lease holders cannot be found. Provincial departments together with their respective municipalities are only responsible for government-owned rental accommodation and as such are not responsible for private rental accommodation or grey hostels (which include a component of private ownership).
(b)(i) (ii) The following table illustrates the hostels that have been transformed into family units as well as those which have not been refurbished in each metropolitan area:
Province |
Metropolitan Area |
Number of hostels not refurbished |
Number of hostels transformed into family units |
Gauteng |
Ekurhuleni Metro |
20 |
1 |
Johannesburg Metro |
14 |
8 |
|
Tshwane Metro |
3 |
2 |
|
Western Cape |
City of Cape Town |
5 |
1 |
KZN |
eThekwini Metro |
11 |
9 |
Free State |
Mangaung Metro |
No public hostels |
|
Eastern Cape |
Buffalo City Metro |
No public hostels |
|
Nelson Mandela Bay Metro |
No public hostels |
2. Hostels are grouped into three categories only, that is: public, private and grey hostels.
(a) The Department is only responsible for public sector hostels and is currently transforming hostels into family units using the Community Residential Units (CRU) programme. The programme provides grant funding to provinces and municipalities for the upgrading, conversion, or complete redevelopment of existing government owned rental stock, including hostels.
(b) Due to the vast size of hostels and limited budget, all hostel projects are undertaken in phases and planned over a span of 10 to 30 years, therefore it is very difficult to put the exact date for the completion of the transformation of the hostels into family units.