Latest news with #Hillbrow
Mail & Guardian
5 days ago
- Health
- Mail & Guardian
ActionSA pushes for constitutional change as Operation Dudula targets migrants at clinics
Operation Dudula preventing foreigners from using South African health faacilities. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G) ActionSA parliamentary chief whip Lerato Ngobeni said the party had tabled constitutional amendment proposals in May, arguing that the public health system was 'buckling' under the pressure of providing free care to non-citizens. Ngobeni claimed that some clinics reported that up to 70% of patients seeking services were foreign nationals and this had led to South Africans being 'crowded out' of already overstretched facilities. 'South Africa is expected to carry this burden indefinitely, when other countries do not even allow entry without proof of medical insurance,' she said in a recent statement. The The commission voiced alarm about reports of intimidation by Operation Dudula at health facilities in Hillbrow and Rosettenville in Johannesburg. They demanded documentation at clinic entrances and turned away people without documents. In some cases, they inspected patient clinic cards and threatened hospital staff. 'The commission would like to remind members of the public and civic groups that access to healthcare is central to the right to dignity, the right to life, and the right to equality. The denial of healthcare on discriminatory grounds undermines the constitutional promise of a just, inclusive and caring society,' the SAHRC said. It cautioned citizens against taking the law into their own hands and making it difficult for people to get medical care because of their nationality. 'It is important to note that no civic group or individual has the legal authority to control access to public health facilities or to enforce immigration laws.' The power to inspect, arrest or detain undocumented people lies solely with the department of home affairs, supported by the South African Police Service when lawfully required, the commission said. Operation Dudula, now a registered political party, has said its actions are 'community interventions'. National organiser Zandile Dabula told public broadcaster SABC last week that migrants should only receive emergency care 'after they are arrested for violating immigration laws'. In an interview with the Mail & Guardian , she denied that Operation Dudula's Legal experts have said such actions could constitute violations of the Constitution and the National Health Act, which does not permit discrimination based on nationality or legal status. International human rights frameworks, including the United Nations Refugee Convention and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, also obligate South Africa to provide basic healthcare to all people in its borders. Pierre de Vos, a constitutional law expert at the University of Cape Town, has previously argued that section 27's language is unambiguous and applies to all people, not just citizens. He said that amending this section would require a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and approval from at least six provinces in the National Council of Provinces. In Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, nurses and doctors have raised concerns about staff shortages, long queues and under-resourced clinics. The department of health has not endorsed ActionSA's stance, but it has acknowledged systemic pressure driven by increased demand, insufficient infrastructure and budget constraints. It says undocumented migrants can get primary care services, with more restricted access to specialised care. Civil society organisations, including Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia and Section27, have called for urgent intervention to halt Operation Dudula-led disruptions at clinics. Legal proceedings have been launched in the Johannesburg high court seeking interdicts against the party's actions, with judgments expected later this year. As the 2026 local government The party argues that South Africa must 'rebalance' its humanitarian commitments with resource constraints, but critics warn that such rhetoric risks fuelling xenophobic violence.
News24
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News24
Actress and singer Thembi Seete answers 20 quirky questions
We put Kings of Jo'Burg actress and legendary Boom Shaka singer Thembi Seete on the spot in our rapid-fire series. 1 What's the most delicious thing you've eaten? Japanese and Thai cuisine in Thailand – the flavours are out of this world. 2 If not your current career, what would your dream job be? I'd love to work in the fashion and beauty space, inspired by my mom, a fashion designer. 3 The song that always gets you dancing? It's About Time by Boom Shaka. It's a classic but the beat and lyrics never get old. I catch myself dancing along and kicking out my leg every time it comes on. Young or old, you won't be able to resist dancing to this song. 4 Which three people (dead or alive) would you invite to your fantasy dinner party? My parents and Lebo Mathosa [her Boom Shaka bandmate who died in 2006] – I miss them dearly. 5 Which fictional character would you love to play in a movie? I would say Spider-Man because my son is crazy about him but this time around I would be Spider-Woman. 6 If you could relive one day from your past, which would it be? Living in Hillbrow – those were the best times of my life and I discovered so much about myself. 7 What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? 'Love starts with you' – a valuable reminder. 8 What's your most-used emoji in your chats, and why? My L'Oreal Mojo – I created it and love it! 😊 9 What's the one app you can't live without? WhatsApp – so convenient! 10 If you could own a holiday home anywhere in the world, where would it be? Camps Bay, Cape Town – stunning spot! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Thembi Seete 🇿🇦 (@thembiseete_) 11 What's your all-time favourite book? The 48 Laws of Power, it's a thought-provoking read. 12 Who's your biggest inspiration? God and prayer, my guiding light. 13 What smell instantly takes you back to childhood? Jungle Oats (not a fan of the smell, though!). 14 How would you spend R1 million in 24 hours? Half for worldwide flight tickets for me and the rest for loved ones. READ MORE | YOU rapid fire | 20 questions with actor and comedian Siv Ngesi 15 Sweet or salty snacks? Salty, spicy snacks like biltong or spicy almond nuts. Yum! 16 If you had to compete in a reality TV show, which one would it be? The Amazing Race. I love travelling! 17 Name a movie that always makes you cry, no matter how many times you watch it. Passion of the Christ, such a powerful film. 18 What's your most irrational fear? Oceans and game drives – no wild animal encounters for me! 19 If your life had a signature catchphrase, what would it be? 'Keep going, keep going'. It's motivating! 20 If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three items would you want to have? Water, food and sunblock – practical choices!
Irish Times
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘Black or white, as a South African you just want to leave home without worrying you're going to die'
On a warm evening last December, Reason Khumalo was doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in Johannesburg when he noticed two apparently drunk strangers weaving towards him. He did not think much of it: it was a public holiday and the streets in the inner-city Hillbrow district were busy with cheerful crowds. 'The next thing I knew, one of them drew a gun and everybody just scattered,' the 45-year-old Uber driver recalled, his voice still shaking months later. Only after he had been running for a while did Khumalo look down and realise his shirt was soaked in blood. 'I've been shot' was his last thought before collapsing. Khumalo, who woke from a coma in hospital days later, narrowly avoided joining almost 27,000 South Africans murdered last year – a toll that has received renewed global scrutiny in recent months. READ MORE Since taking office, Donald Trump has fixated on a false narrative that white South African farmers are the victims of a 'genocide', using a bruising Oval Office meeting with president Cyril Ramaphosa in May to reiterate the discredited claim. South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa is confronted by Donald Trump at the White House in March. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA Violent crime has become one of the biggest issues in post-apartheid South Africa , fuelling a vicious cycle that the World Bank says costs the economy at least 10 per cent of GDP annually. Law-breaking has seeped into much of South African society, from organised crime to petty looting; political assassinations to extortion rackets. But contrary to the US president's 'genocide' contention, it blights the daily lives of all South Africans. The reality is that three-quarters of homicide victims in the country – which at 45 per 100,000 citizens has one of the world's highest murder rates – are, like Khumalo, black or mixed-heritage men, who self-refer as 'coloured', living in low-income areas. South Africa is also afflicted by one of the highest global rates of femicide. [ Debunking Trump's claims: Is there any evidence of white genocide in South Africa? ] After taking office in 2019, Ramaphosa vowed that violent crime would be 'halved, if not eliminated' in a decade, only for murder rates to rise since then. Public anger with the ANC's broken promises, including its pledge to curb crime, led to the party losing its parliamentary majority in elections last year, the first time since white rule ended three decades ago. Guy Lamb, a criminologist at Stellenbosch University, said the Trump administration's obsession with the killing of white farmers – who make up a sliver of overall murder victims – risked 'distracting' authorities from taking the steps needed to tackle the broader epidemic. 'It means that government has to devote political and financial resources to respond because of the hype ... rather than devoting that to, say, a black woman murdered and raped in a poor area,' he said. Every year South Africans read the statistics that tell us 20,000 black men have been murdered and they shrug their shoulders The crime crisis gripping South Africa traces its roots in part to apartheid, when the state wielded its might to brutally suppress the non-white population, with the murder rate peaking at around 70 per 100,000 as the government cracked down on pro-democracy movements. The murder rate dropped to its lowest-ever level once democracy began in 1994, only to climb again from 2011 as the economy stagnated and rampant corruption weakened the state's capacity to respond. Today, just one in 10 perpetrators of serious crime are caught or convicted. 'Every year South Africans read the statistics that effectively tell us that 20,000 or so black men have been murdered and they shrug their shoulders,' said David Bruce, a consultant on police research at the city of Pretoria's Institute of Security Studies. The long trail of bodies has become one of the biggest blots of Ramaphosa's tenure. In his first term, the South African president was hampered by infighting within the ANC following the ousting of his predecessor Jacob Zuma, a former intelligence chief whose allies were deeply embedded in the criminal justice and state security apparatus. Police, prosecutors and financial watchdogs were all weakened in the so-called capture and looting of the state that became South Africa's biggest-ever corruption scandal before Zuma resigned in 2018. The Scorpions – a widely respected specialised unit that investigated and prosecuted serious crimes, including corruption and organised crime – was disbanded. 'If you cut off the knees of your most elite crime-fighting units because they were too effective at going after high-profile criminals and targets, that trickles down to lower levels,' said Ziyanda Stuurman, an analyst at Africa Practice, who is also a policing consultant. Top officials in policing, the criminal justice system and National Prosecuting Authority have remained toothless following policy indecision under Ramaphosa. Illegally owned small arms have also proliferated. A national crime prevention plan, aimed primarily at bringing down violent crime and gender-based violence, was drawn up in 2022, but 'there hasn't been budgetary or political impetus behind this plan', Lamb said. [ Trump's evidence of South Africa 'white genocide' contains images from DR Congo ] He said a failure to reform the apartheid-era police had exacerbated the problem. 'During the apartheid era policing was quite aggressive, focusing on poor areas and had a strong racial connotation,' he said. 'Those practices and strategies have continued into the current years.' The ANC-led national unity government that was elected last year said 'strengthening law-enforcement agencies to address crime, corruption and gender-based violence' would be one of its priorities. The coalition's Democratic Alliance Party has since introduced a Bill to set up an anti-corruption commission to investigate and prosecute 'serious corruption and high-level organised crime'. The issue of violent crime against white Afrikaner farmers in post-apartheid South Africa has become a flashpoint in part by tapping into similar narratives among the far right in the US. In South Africa there were 32 murders on farms last year, including of black and white people, said the Transvaal Agricultural Union, a private agricultural group. The figure accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of the total homicides, with most of those killed in rural crimes black farm workers and security guards. But analysts say the outsized focus on crimes against white farmers highlights more broadly the way in which the social contract is fraying between the state and its citizens, who feel their basic right to safety is under threat. Afrikaner-rights lobbyists 'tap into the feeling of 'you are being targeted',' said Stuurman. 'They give a bogus reason,' she said. 'But if we're all feeling unsafe and distrustful of each other, then it's human nature to ... gravitate towards somebody who recognises that anger and vulnerability.' For those whose lives have been blighted by violent crime, the sense of insecurity cuts across the board. Khumalo, the Uber driver who was shot, has since stopped working and he barely leaves his house, fearful because he has not heard back from the police despite repeatedly following up. 'At the end of the day, black or white or whatever colour,' he said, 'as a South African you just want to be able to leave your home and return safely without worrying you're going to die.' – The Financial Times
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
South Africa is at the heart of the HIV pandemic. What happens now the money has been cut?
Lebo is very afraid. She used to go to a clinic where sex workers such as her could get HIV medication without facing discrimination. But the dispensary, in Johannesburg's run-down central Hillbrow district, shut down in January, when Donald Trump cut US funding to the global HIV response. 'I'm weak. I'm an old woman,' says the 62-year-old. 'So please, we need help; we are suffering.' Lebo, who only wants her first name shared, is now spending 30% of her monthly income of 1,500 rand (£62) on antiretroviral (ARV) medication. The situation in South Africa, the centre of the world's HIV pandemic, is a 'crisis', says Ramphelane Morewane, who leads the HIV/Aids response in the country's health ministry. Lebo will not go to a government clinic again, after being shouted at and refused treatment. 'They said, 'Go back, it's not your clinic. It's not me that said that [the sex workers'] clinic must close; it's not my problem.' I was crying,' Lebo says. • The countries of eastern and southern Africa are at the centre of the HIV/Aids epidemic, and are home to about half of all people living with HIV. • In 2023 the number of people living with HIV was 7.7 million in South Africa, about 12% of the population. Adult HIV prevalence exceeds 10% of the population in Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. • Globally, in 2023 there were 1.3 million new cases to add to the world total of about 39.9 million people. Of those, 53% are women and girls. Since the start of the epidemic in 1981, 42.3 million people have died of Aids-related illness. • In the early days, Aids denialism in Europe and North America caught on in South Africa and became a huge problem for medical professionals. The intervention of Nelson Mandela in 2000 is thought to have turned the tide. •The UN-agreed target (Sustainable Development Goal) is to end Aids as a public health threat by 2030 and to dramatically reduce new HIV infections, but it is not on track. In 2023, about 7.7 million people were living with HIV in South Africa according to UNAids, roughly 12% of the population. However, the government's approach to HIV in recent decades is a world away from former president Thabo Mbeki's denialism in the 2000s. New infections were less than a third of what they were in 2000, according to the UNAids data, while deaths were a fifth of the 260,000 seen at the epidemic's peak in 2004. But because of the loss of US aid, which the South African government said was meant to be 7.6bn rand (£316m) for the 12 months to March 2026, accounting for 17% of that year's funding for the HIV response, those gains are under threat. Trump ordered a 90-day freeze on US foreign aid, which included the 'president's emergency plan for Aids relief' (Pepfar), hours after taking office on 20 January. Within weeks, South African clinics serving 'key populations' – minority groups particularly vulnerable to contracting HIV, such as sex workers, trans women, men who have sex with men, and injecting drug users – that had been receiving Pepfar funding had to shut their doors. In February, Trump signed an executive order specifically cutting aid to South Africa, accusing it of racial discrimination against white minority Afrikaners. Unpublished South African government data obtained by Reuters showed that viral-load testing, which indicates whether people with HIV are preventing it from progressing to Aids, had fallen up to 21% in March and April for groups including pregnant and breastfeeding women, infants and 15- to 24-year-olds. Among those who were tested, the percentage who had successfully suppressed the virus fell 3.4% in March and 0.2% in April. Experts have accused the government of South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, of not making up for the lost funds and downplaying the issue. 'We are seeing this from African governments across the region, and it's denial and it's completely predictable,' says Prof Francois Venter, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand (known as Wits), adding: 'It's embarrassing when you're supposed to be able to run your own programmes. South Africa is particularly revolting, because they actually do have the resources.' Morewane says his department requested emergency funding from the treasury, which said it was evaluating the request. 'A recommendation will be made to the minister of finance once the process has concluded. Unfortunately, we do not have a timeline at the moment,' a spokesperson said by email. Morewane says that, in the meantime, government clinics have been following up individually to transfer patients of specialist services that have been shut down. Palesa Mafoko used to get her ARVs every three months at the 'hotspot' east of Pretoria, where she is a sex worker. She praised the mobile clinic run by the Wits reproductive health and HIV institute (Wits RHI), which had nine (now-shut) HIV clinics for sex workers and transgender people in four provinces. 'It was outstanding. They were very patient with me. They would ask how was I, how am I feeling today,' the 37-year-old says. In mid-February, Mafoko says, she and five other sex workers were turned away from a government clinic, with staff saying they needed referrals. Mafoko, who has been HIV positive for four years, is now no longer taking ARVs, which she said she cannot afford to buy herself. 'I do have blood just like anyone else. My choice of career is the one that gives me a bed. So I don't want to be denied services because of the choice of my career,' she says. South Africa's government cannot easily rebuild the networks among vulnerable communities that have been shattered, says Minja Milovanovic, a Wits researcher who is investigating the impact of the funding cuts. 'You've lost the trust of individuals who have been used to accessing your services,' she says. 'Trust takes years to build with some of the most vulnerable populations – which was literally destroyed overnight.' Amanda, 39, was employed as an outreach worker at the Wits RHI clinic in Hillbrow, in central Johannesburg, but she has been forced back to touting for clients. On a bench outside a nearby park, two women immediately started talking to her in a mixture of languages. 'HIV is going to kill us,' one says. Amanda is also HIV positive and does not want to go to a government clinic, where she fears rejection. Just as she was about to run out of ARVs, she managed to get a client to buy two months' worth of medication. 'I said it was for someone at home, because otherwise I would lose a client,' she says. Meanwhile, there are fears of a surge in new infections. Globally, Pepfar provided about 90% of the drug pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Taken correctly, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by 99%. 'There are people, unfortunately, who are going to fall through the cracks,' says Johan Hugo, who ran a now-shut clinic for men who have sex with men, metres from Cape Town's picturesque V&A Waterfront. 'I dealt with … someone who was chased out of the house, who was doing sex work to survive, who was doing drugs. I mean, how can you think that person is just going to be resilient?' Sparkle (not her real name), a transgender woman, lost her job with the Wits RHI transgender clinic in Hillbrow in February, along with a free supply of PrEP. She worries her boyfriend is having sex with other people and could infect her with HIV. She also lost access to gender-affirming hormones, which enabled her to grow breasts and feel like herself. 'It helped me a lot, to a point whereby I'm so proud when I walk in the community, whereby I'm not afraid of anything,' she says. 'It's taking me back again to say I don't have hormone pills.'
Mail & Guardian
08-06-2025
- Mail & Guardian
Johannesburg's housing crisis is like a movie on loop
Housing crisis: The City of Johannesburg must take action now to prevent a repeat of the 80 Albert Street building fire in which 88 people were injured and 77 died. (Delwyn Verasamy) I decided to rewatch the movie Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema. Besides being an excellent film directed by Ralph Ziman, I started examining the fictional protagonist Lucky Kunene. He is a symbol of struggle and represents individuals who were involved with the hijacking of buildings in Jozi's suburb of Hillbrow during the 1990s. The character Lucky is not a real person, but the movie is based on real-life events, and it got me thinking. How much has changed since then? Well, basically nothing. In fact, I think the situation has worsened. I was in the Johannesburg city centre the other day, and the decay is nothing short of a tragedy. Looking across the once-iconic skyline that was home to some of the tallest buildings in Africa, it's hard to digest what has happened to the City of Gold. At about the time of Lucky's rhetorical escapade in 1990, Ponte City was hijacked. Then, in 2021, they officially declared the building to be Africa's first-ever vertical slum. Riddled with lawlessness and gangsterism, it was home to 8000 people, which is way past the legal occupancy rate for this building. Water and electricity were cut off from the building, and people threw so much trash into the centre of the building that it built up 14 storeys high. In later years, when the trash was finally cleaned up, they found 23 bodies. That's a pretty big fall from grace considering Ponte was once the tallest building in Africa for 48 years straight, measuring 172m in height. It was beaten by a skyscraper in Egypt — only 5m taller. Someone suggested that Ponte City be converted into the world's first vertical prison. From a design perspective, this might not have been a bad idea for the building itself. But, from a surroundings perspective, a building with such a prominent location surrounded by corporations, bank headquarters and schools was probably not a good match. I took a tour of Ponte City and according to the tour guide, who lives in Ponte, there are seven hijacked buildings and nine abandoned buildings in the suburb of Berea, where Ponte City is located. According to reports over the years, 643 buildings have been hijacked in Johannesburg, specifically in the Hillbrow, Yeoville, Berea and Joubert Park areas. More recent estimates have stated that this number has grown to more than 1100 buildings. When a building is hijacked, it means that the building has been occupied without permission. The owners of the building, or its managing agents, no longer have control over the property. How does this happen? The owners of the buildings cannot be traced. They die, move overseas, or no longer pay the costs of maintaining their assets. Water and electricity are often cut off by the city, and there are zero sewerage services. These buildings then become unsanitary and dangerous places to live. All the while, criminals force the tenants to pay rent to them and not to the owners of the building. The hijacking of buildings is a symptom of seriously deep-seated social problems in our society. The government's way of dealing with the hijacked-building crisis reminds me of my favourite South African term 'now now' — which could mean they will start dealing with the issue in the next five minutes, five months or five years. The range is what you dream of with no concrete solutions in place or a timeline to make those dreams a reality. And so the solution to the abandoned building problem remains precisely that, a dream without a plan of action. Many of these buildings are owned by the government. How can our own government no implement its policies and reclaim what is rightfully theirs? Ironically, they love to pass policies, but what about when it comes to implementing them? People are dying in these buildings, and the solution is in limbo. Remember the story about the five-storey building at 80 Albert Street, Marshalltown in Johannesburg city centre that caught on fire on 31 August 2023? The building was constructed in 1954 during apartheid and served as the main administration office for Johannesburg's non-European affairs department. People of colour would essentially collect their 'dompas' here. Later on, it transformed into the Usindiso Women's Shelter until its By 2019, more than 400 individuals occupied this property. The emergency exits were all locked or blocked at the time of the fire, in which 77 people died and 88 were injured. More recently, I have read that our current Johannesburg mayor, Dada Morero, plans to relocate his office from Braamfontein to this building. Renovations of the building are expected to be completed this year. If our government cannot uphold standard occupancy levels and fire regulations in their buildings, how can we expect other landlords to follow suit? Herman Mashaba, one of the um-teenth mayors of Johannesburg over the past decade, floated around some good suggestions once upon a time. He proposed the conversion of dozens of hijacked buildings, abandoned and government-owned buildings into social housing projects. He brought to the table ideas for incentives such as providing investors with rates and tax exemptions for the period of one year if they could include an affordable housing component in their development. This was not necessarily a bad start as far as solutions go. However, I don't recall any of the above happening during or after Mashaba's tenure. When Mashaba left his mayoral position in 2019, the City of Johannesburg passed an Inclusionary Housing Policy at the same time to encourage private companies to build social housing in the Johannesburg city centre. More specifically, it provides incentives for buildings with 20 units or more to allocate 30% of their units for low-income housing. Many agreed with the principle, while others were strong critics of the plan's practicality. The sad truth is that when we fast-forward to 2025, I don't know of many projects that have actually implemented the Inclusionary Housing Policy to obtain its incentives. Sure, there have been approvals of a couple thousand inclusionary housing units since the policy's implementation; however, not many that I know of have been constructed. It seems the policy was not so attractive for developers after all. And so here we are, it's 2025, and not much has changed. We're still having the same conversations. Still walking past the same burnt-out and hijacked buildings. Still holding the same memorials for lives lost in preventable tragedies. Still hearing the same political promises that come wrapped in red tape and delay. What's most maddening is that the solution is right in front of us, and has been for years. We have the buildings. Hundreds of them. Some of the most well-located buildings in the country, in a city built on gold and ambition. But instead of being used as catalysts for urban rejuvenation, social housing, and economic upliftment, they sit empty, hijacked, or decaying, becoming ticking time bombs. Not to mention that building costs are through the roof (excuse the pun). Rebuilding any of these buildings today would run into the billions. Sometimes conversions can be a cost-saving exercise in themselves. Johannesburg's current mayor, Dada Morero, has recently discussed the city's plans to intensify efforts to reclaim the city centre and address issues related to crime and deteriorating infrastructure. I have also read that Morero plans to relocate his office from Braamfontein to 80 Albert Street. Renovations of the building, which were initiated after the fire, are expected to be completed this year. Late last year, Morero announced that these problems would be addressed precinct by precinct. Morero says fewer than 50 hijacked buildings in the city belong to the government. He also mentions that the city cannot find the owners of about 100 hijacked buildings. He suggests that possible expropriation without compensation could be a solution here. In my opinion, if you can't manage your own buildings successfully, what is the point of taking ownership of others? It should not take another fire, another news headline, or another round of blame-shifting for us to act. And yet, here we are, stuck in this loop of policy without implementation, vision without backbone, crisis without urgency. If the government is serious about solving the housing crisis, then we need more than policies that look good on paper. We need plans to be executed. We need a multi-pronged approach: removing the criminals demanding rent from tenants, support for tenants in hijacked buildings, repairing the sewage, water and electricity, and putting in place refuse removal. Public-private partnerships can rehabilitate abandoned stock, and real incentives for developers who want to build or convert properties for mixed-income housing could be provided. And let's be clear, this isn't only a housing issue. It's a safety issue. A dignity issue. An economic issue. A human rights issue. Until we stop viewing hijacked buildings as isolated cases and start addressing them as part of a broader urban failure, nothing will shift. We'll keep rewatching Jerusalema and asking, 'How much has changed since then?' The answer must not be: nothing. Because people aren't just looking for affordable housing. They're looking for proof that someone, somewhere, still gives a damn. Ask Ash examines South Africa's property, architecture and living spaces. 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