By Mashamba Media
news@alexreporter.co.za
ActionSA PR councillor, Shadrack Mkhonto, said that the Public Protector has acknowledged the complaint report he submitted to her office.
The letter was penned both by Mkhonto, affectionately called the mayor of Alex and Kemishetjo, Kamela Matsimela, former youth secretary of ActionSA in Johannesburg.
The letter is concerning the alleged misuse of funds by the city of Johannesburg’s department of Human Settlement amounting to R17 million at Hellen Joseph Women Hostel project in Alexandra.
Mkhonto and Matsimela took it upon themselves to submit the complaint to the public protector after the hostel dwellers submitted a petition to the City of Johannesburg’s petition committee in 2018.
He said the petitioners were complaining about the infrastructure in the facility being old, resulting in recurrence of blockages, burst water pipes, and roof leaks.
According to Mkhonto the city of Johannesburg’s department of Human Settlement has spent R 17 million in the 2020/21 & 2021/22 financial year on Hellen Joseph women hostel for repairs and maintenance but the condition of infrastructure remains horrendous.
According to him, the petition committee went to the hostel in July this year to scrutinize the work done by the contractors appointed by the city’s department of Human Settlement.
“The petition committee found that the work done at this facility is minimal and doesn’t reflect the work done presented in the city’s department of Human Settlement report which was presented before the petition committee, wherein R17m is claimed to have been spent at this facility by the city’s department,” said Mkhonto.
Mkhonto and Matsimela demanded that the public protector conduct independent investigations into this matter.
According to the pair, hostel dwellers have been denied the right to an adequate standard of living in this case.