. >> reporter: about 22,000 people live at these hostels outside der bin, enduring cramped, poorly maintainedmonths of violence, police patrol the area 24 hours a day. their resources are stretched. over the past 18 months more than 15 people have been killed in and around the hostels. people say hit squads are responsible for the deaths. some believe the killings are politically motivated. former community leader richard nuzam a says he feels for his life. >> translation: i had a gunshot and i did not realise i was shot. i saw a lot of people around there. some of them they were shot. >> reporter: the hostels were both understand apartheid-- under. they were designed to keep black workers in urban areas segregated from white people. the hostels linger. >> the hostels in a sense represented the worst aspects of apartheid. violence against black people in the most degrading, dehumanising sense. the anc has for a long time, even prior to 1994, has a policy of wanting to get rid of the hostels, but they became politicised. >> reporter: the government says it wants to convert these buildings into