In Hillbrow a dispute between two groups claiming ownership of a building has left residents uncertain of their future. Nawaal Deane reports
‘Who should I pay?” This is the question most tenants are asking at the BG Alexander Building in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.
Gladys Ndlovu stands outside the building with her tattered mattress up against a tree and the rest of her meagre belongings strewn around. On her back she carries her baby, wrapped in a threadbare blanket.
“My husband is at the hospital. These people [collecting the rent] kicked us out and hit him,” she says, wiping tears from her eyes.
Tenants are caught in the crossfire between two groups, the Africa Media University (AMU) and a group of “floor managers”, both of whom are claiming “ownership” of the building.
Each tenant pays R500 a month for a single room with no hot water. Approximately 1 000 tenants occupy the decrepit building, making it a lucrative business for whoever collects the rent.
Ndlovu’s husband, Zenzo Khumalo, was taken to hospital on Tuesday for injuries he received when he refused to pay the rent.
“The people collecting the rent do not own the building,” says Khumalo.
He says that Edward Bruce, the former manager of AMU, brought in the floor managers and they have now taken over the building.
“If you don’t want to pay they intimidate you and remove your stuff from the rooms. When I told them that they don’t own the building they said I must not tell the other tenants and I must just pay what I can.”
When Khumalo refused, 15 men attacked him at gunpoint and ordered him to “get out”.
“They said, you are not paying us, why are you paying to the AMU account. They then pushed me against the wall and started throwing my things out.”
Some tenants complain that if they don’t pay the rent their electricity is cut off.
“I did not pay my rent because I know these people don’t have a lease, so they cut my electricity,” says Tracy Twala*.
“The tenants don’t know what is going on they just pay out of fear,” she says.
But there are tenants like Johanna Ntsepa and her sister, Maria, who pay their rent to the floor managers without complaint.
“These people brought us here and they are the ones who look after the building,” Ntsepa says.
The BG Alexander Building is owned by the government and was leased by the Department of Transport and Public Works to AMU. Liesl Gttert, AMU’s CEO, signed a lease for the rental of R100 a month in January last year. The lease conditions specified that the premises could not be sublet.
Gttert denies any knowledge of the premises being sublet. In a statement to the police Gttert accuses a group of people called “floor managers”, who she claims was hired by her former manager Bruce who has now disappeared to clean the building of the illegal renting out of the premises.
“I appointed Edward [Bruce] to oversee the academic side of AMU, and gave him the task to fill up the hostel blocks with live-in students,” says Gttert.
She said she visited the premises for the first time after three months in December.
“On inspection it seemed apparent that the hostel blocks had been let out to people from the street and that the floor managers had been collecting deposits and rentals from tenants.”
These floor managers claim that Bruce hired them on Gttert’s instructions to fill up the hostels not only with students but with anyone willing to pay the rent.
“We were the ones who had to clean this place and collect the rent and now they want to kick us out after they’ve realised how much money they can make,” says Janet Wanjiru Nbugua, one of the floor managers.
The managers claim they had an agreement with Bruce, where 50% of the rent would be deposited in AMU’s bank account while the rest was theirs to keep.
“We collected almost R50 000 for them in October,” says Phumla Tau. “We clean this building and fix it,” she says.
The group brought in street children who they employ to clean the building. However, Pastor Schedric Phiri, another tenant, says: “These are not street children but adult men who intimidate us to pay the rent.”
Morale is low among the tenants with most of them paying the rent for fear of being kicked out onto the street.
“What must I do? Leslie [Tau, a floor manager] says they own it, then Liesl says no, she owns it. I don’t know who to believe,” says Howard Moraji, a truck driver who has been living in the building since September last year.
Both sides are accusing the other of theft and fraud.
Candice Golding, personal assistant to Gttert, claims to have been assaulted by the group when she tried to hand out memos stating that tenants should pay the rent into the AMU account. She has moved out of the building.
“I feared for my life and had to move out,” says Golding.
Gift Maseko, one of the floor managers, says: “Candice was living at the campus all the time but none of these tenants attended the community classes she was supposedly giving on Saturdays. How can these tenants be students?”
The group of floor managers has hired a lawyer, Votani Majola, to represent them in the matter.
He responded to a request for comment with the following fax: “We wish to reiterate that the situation at BG Alexander Building is sub judice as there are both criminal and civil cases in court at this moment, hence it is advisable that you should not publish any information at this stage.”
But according to Superintendent Johnny Smith, the investigating officer in the theft and fraud charge laid by Gttert, the case is concluded and no charges or arrests have taken place.
“The public prosecutions office has declined to prosecute on behalf of Liesl Gttert,” says Smith.
He says Gttert will have to seek private prosecution.
Priscilla Pietersen, the representative for MEC for Public Works Khabisi Mosunkutu, says the building belongs to the provincial government.
“The Department of Transport and Public Works has no legal agreement with the subtenants.”
Even though Gttert claims to have extended the lease for this year, Pietersen says that the lease with AMU expired in December. The department is under the impression that the police’s commercial crime unit in Johannesburg is investigating the matter.
Pietersen says that the department has no lease agreement with Majola’s clients and subletting is not allowed according to the original lease agreement.
The tenants remain uncertain of their future.
“I am too afraid not to pay the floor managers, but what will happen to us when they are gone?” asks Simon Ngubane, a 52-year-old tenant.
*Not her real name