Residents of the Heaven’s Shelter House say they have voicenotes, apparently from the owner, proving that she is demanding rent from them.
Earlier this week, Zulfa Morris told the Daily Voice that the residents were “making things up” and that rather than collect R1000 rent a month, she encouraged them to make “donations”.
Unemployed occupants of the complex, which has eight private rooms, two 10-sleeper dormitories and six Wendy houses say the hostel is plagued by electricity cuts and unhygienic food storage.
An anonymous resident had complained to Daily Voice: “Because there is no electricity, the food goes off and it just lies there in the kitchen making the whole hostel smell like a morgue, and then you still get maggots.”
The resident added that the hostel has over 40 occupants who are all forced to share a single bathroom that is not properly maintained.
In one of the voicenotes that was shared with the Daily Voice, a resident is told that they have been paying short for a few months now and are facing eviction.
Another voicenote says: “You know you needed to pay the money and at the end of the day, you’re not paying it.
“You wait till on the time you have to pay but please just clear out because we are closing this place, because of people that are saying the place is unhealthy, so we’re closing the place and everybody has to go. OK, God bless.”
Zulfa says that she is aware of the voicenotes going around but says the conversations were taken out of context.
She says: “I do not know where those voicenotes come from but it is not true and has been taken out of context.
“We do not charge rent here, the people live here for free and they have access to anything they want.
“We are not putting anybody out because they are not paying their money, we have a lot of people here that have been staying for years without paying anything.
“I have sacrificed more than 20 years to look after the community and I have even given up my own house and family to stay here with them. If things are really so bad here, then why do they stay?”
The shelter received no government funding, she added.