The DA has placed its full support behind the illegal occupants of about 100 houses in Vergenoeg in Buffalo City Metro.
DA Eastern Cape leader Nqaba Bhanga was speaking on the campaign trail on Monday.
Bhanga was joined by the DA’s Team One SA spokesperson for Basic Services, Solly Malatsi, and campaign spokesperson Kevin Mileham.
Bhanga told the home occupants, who were also DA supporters, that they were “100% behind residents” in their fight against the municipality.
“I’m happy you guys stood up. The DA supports you. If there’s no credible, transparent housing list, that’s where you get these problems. Most of the time, the houses aren’t going to a correct beneficiary.
“We’ll always be on the side of those who are vulnerable. We’re going to challenge them. You must be firm and nobody must exclude you on the basis of race,” Bhanga said.
DA BCM councillor Richard Rooy said some residents claimed they had been excluded from the housing list because of race.
Residents claimed the black community and ANC supporters received first preference before the coloured community, who were DA supporters.
Rooy added that the DA in council has asked for a full audit of the housing lists and a forensic probe on corruption.
BCM spokesperson Sam Ngwenya said the metro did not discriminate. Vanessa Smith said she had been on the housing list for two decades and had no choice but to occupy her house. Smith lives with seven others in the four-bedroom RDP home.
About 116 RDP houses are occupied by illegal dwellers in ward 10. The disgruntled illegal occupants took over the houses which were still under construction in July.
In August the metro served them with eviction notices but they refused to leave.
Another resident, Eliza Leon, broke down at the prospect of being removed from the house she now calls home.
“I must do it for my children. It’s just comfortable to be a house where it doesn’t rain inside. I can’t go back to the shack,” a hysterical Leon said.
The illegal occupants live without running water or electricity. The Dispatch saw some residents install illegal electricity cables from one house to the next. Many houses had cardboard boxes stapled to window frames and most used electricity drawn from a street mast light. Malatsi said illegal occupation of houses was common in SA.
He said a lack of credible housing lists had created a situation where the legitimate beneficiaries were put out for “ANC favours”.
“As illegal as the behaviour is, it is understandable because it’s an expression of frustration.
“We can’t condone illegal behaviour but you begin to understand why people resort to occupying these houses because they feel cheated. They get cheated because the ANC uses state resources for favours.” Bhanga said the human settlements department needed a transparent housing list.
“If people who are being removed are the people who are supposed to benefit, they have a right to stand up and say the government must come and answer,” he said.
Ngwenya said BCM had a standing order to evict the illegal occupants but political leaders were trying to find a social solution...