Claims that Denver hostel residents have invaded Marshalltown fire victim's temp shelters

JOHANNESBURG - Some residents from the notorious Denver men’s hostel in Johannesburg have allegedly invaded shelters allocated to survivors of the Marshalltown building fire.

Sources told Eyewitness News that some residents were being forced to pay R300 per month for rent.

In November, the survivors were moved to an area where the municipality built over 100 corrugated iron structures.

They’re among the people who were displaced when the Usindiso building in the Johannesburg CBD caught fire in August, killing more than 70 people.

Shelters allocated to Marshalltown fire survivors are within close proximity to the Denver men’s hostel - a place where a Wits University student was held at ransom during a kidnapping ordeal in September 2023.

This survivor, who spoke to Eyewitness News anonymously, alleges that hostel dwellers raided the shelter last week trying to kick them out.

“They broke into some of the shacks here, trying to invade our homes. Their homes near the hostel were also destroyed by a fire, so they wanted to live here with us.”

Another survivor also confirmed this, saying the kingpins at the hostel want total control of the shelters.

“We once raised this at a meeting. The hostel dwellers came here once and told us they’d return at night, so we are not safe because we don’t know what they’ll do to us.”

City of Joburg spokesperson, Nthatisi Modingoane, said the municipality was aware of this and had assured residents that it would not happen again.