Any official from the department of human settlements implicated in the illegal sales of RDP homes would face harsh punishment, MEC Helen Sauls-August has warned.
Sauls-August issued the warning during a door-to-door programme in Mthatha yesterday, after being confronted by an angry resident claiming his RDP home had been illegally given to someone else.
The human settlements MEC in the Eastern Cape was visiting Zimbane Valley, a new residential township near Southernwood where more than 1500 RDP homes have been built by government in recent years.
Her visit formed part of a wide programme by her department to investigate the illegal occupation and sale of RDP houses.
At least 1900 RDP houses in Zimbane Valley are also set to be demolished and rebuilt by the department owing to shoddy work by the contractors who built them.
While many residents were happy to hear their crumbling houses would be fixed, the MEC was forced to act quickly after approached by 43-year-old Siyabulela Msimango who claimed he never received his house despite a site being allocated to him.
Instead, he said another woman had been given his house although her name appeared on a beneficiary list in Kuyasa suburb, about 1km from Zimbane Valley.
Sauls-August and her officials dismissed this as a misprint as there was no RDP housing project in Kuyasa.
“I just want my house back. It belongs to me,” Msimango told the Daily Dispatch.
But the woman told Helen Sauls-August the house belonged to her and produced a title deed in her name. Msimango claimed it was fake and stuck to his story.
A visibly angry Sauls-August said her department would try to get to the root of the problem and if any official was found to have been behind the issuing of a site to Msimango, she would deal with them harshly. She revealed that Msimango had applied for an RDP house which was never approved back in 2002.
“ is alleging that he got a site number from an official. But information shows that this house could never have belonged to him,” she said.
She said the door-to-door programme was an opportunity to find out who the official was who gave him a site number.
“It shows we must root out corruption,” she said.
She later told the Dispatch that if any of her officials were found complicit in the illegal sales of RDP homes, they would be dealt with severely. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
MEC takes tough stance on corrupt officials
Sauls-August issued the warning during a door-to-door programme in Mthatha yesterday, after being confronted by an angry resident claiming his RDP home had been illegally given to someone else.
The human settlements MEC in the Eastern Cape was visiting Zimbane Valley, a new residential township near Southernwood where more than 1500 RDP homes have been built by government in recent years.
Her visit formed part of a wide programme by her department to investigate the illegal occupation and sale of RDP houses.
At least 1900 RDP houses in Zimbane Valley are also set to be demolished and rebuilt by the department owing to shoddy work by the contractors who built them.
While many residents were happy to hear their crumbling houses would be fixed, the MEC was forced to act quickly after approached by 43-year-old Siyabulela Msimango who claimed he never received his house despite a site being allocated to him.
Instead, he said another woman had been given his house although her name appeared on a beneficiary list in Kuyasa suburb, about 1km from Zimbane Valley.
Sauls-August and her officials dismissed this as a misprint as there was no RDP housing project in Kuyasa.
“I just want my house back. It belongs to me,” Msimango told the Daily Dispatch.
But the woman told Helen Sauls-August the house belonged to her and produced a title deed in her name. Msimango claimed it was fake and stuck to his story.
A visibly angry Sauls-August said her department would try to get to the root of the problem and if any official was found to have been behind the issuing of a site to Msimango, she would deal with them harshly. She revealed that Msimango had applied for an RDP house which was never approved back in 2002.
“ is alleging that he got a site number from an official. But information shows that this house could never have belonged to him,” she said.
She said the door-to-door programme was an opportunity to find out who the official was who gave him a site number.
“It shows we must root out corruption,” she said.
She later told the Dispatch that if any of her officials were found complicit in the illegal sales of RDP homes, they would be dealt with severely. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos