South Africa’s main opposition Democratic Alliance on Tuesday urged the Gauteng government to accelerate housing allocations, saying a number of completed but unoccupied units across the province had been illegally invaded.
Finished housing units in Fleurhof, south-west of Johannesburg, had been invaded and some vandalized, while 342 units and 754 rental rooms were illegally occupied at the Malibongwe Ridge project in the city, said DA provincial legislator Mervyn Cirota, who heads the human settlements portfolio.
In Meadowlands in the sprawling Soweto township, 230 units remained unoccupied after completion, as did 34 units at Mzimhlophe in Orlando West.
In Clayville Extension 45, Ward 1 and Extension 71, Ward 92 in Tembisa, illegal occupants had also taken over residential units, amid allegations that government officials had sold the houses, Cirota said.
He urged Gauteng’s Department of Human Settlements and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to ensure that no completed housing units were left unoccupied and to verify the rightful beneficiaries in time in order to avoid delays in allocations.
“The illegal occupants are costing the department more money in terms of legal fees for eviction orders, eviction processes as well as repairs for the damages,” said Cirota.
The DA would table questions in the legislature to Gauteng member of the executive council for housing Lebogang Maile to determine how many completed and unoccupied housing units the province had, and why they had not been allocated, the provincial member of parliament added.
-African News Agency (ANA)
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