The City of Ekurhuleni warns the public to be aware of a scam to solicit money from residents claiming to put them ahead of the City’s waiting list for serviced stands.
The scammers claim they have authority to allocate houses and serviced stands, in some incidents impersonating the City’s MMC for human settlements, Clr Lesiba Mpya.
According to Mpya, the City is investigating cases where people have been defrauded by these cunning thieves.
“Scammers are impersonating me and charging residents R5 000 for serviced stands. I assure residents that serviced stands and RDP houses are not for sale and my office is not charging anyone for land allocation or housing units,” he said.
Property scammers, scamming tactics and preventive measures you need to know
The RDP housing and serviced stands allocation is conducted through community consultative processes wherein City officials and ward councillors visit rightful beneficiaries in their communities to inform them of stages of allocations.
The serviced stands programme is aimed at reducing the massive RDP house backlog and upgrading the lives of those who are low-income earners.
The provision of serviced stands comes with one or more of the following services infrastructure:
• Title deed registration
• Bathroom/toilet structure
• Water and sewer network systems
• Roads and stormwater network systems
• A full range of municipal services
Unlike the project linked subsidy where a contractor builds houses for beneficiaries, the serviced stands allows beneficiaries to build their own homes.
The public is urged to continue reporting all housing fraud to the City’s Anti-Fraud and Corruption hotline on 0800 102 201.