Housing war erupts during unit handover

TEKWANE NORTH – A war erupted over the 500 housing units delivered by the Department of Human Settlements on Saturday. The following day, Sunday, the recipients of the RDP houses, a majority of whom are senior citizens, were forcefully evicted by an angry mob who alleged that they themselves had been waiting too long for houses.

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The houses were handed over by MEC for human settlements, Mr Speedy Mashilo and City of Mbombela Municipality executive mayor, Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi. It has also surfaced that the angry mob had attended the handover event on Saturday when they noticed their names were not on the beneficiary list.

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When the proceedings commenced, the disgruntled residents threatened that, as soon as Mashilo and Mathonsi had left, they would cause havoc. One of the furious members of the group, who refused to speak to this publication, was overheard by the  Executive mayor of the City of Mbombela Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi, Gogo Paulina Mbimba and MEC Mr Speedy Mashilo. saying: “I don’t have time for this bullsh*t. I want my RDP house because I registered, but now I’m not on the list. If it means that there must be bloodshed, let it be.”

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The department and council had to intervene. Spokesperson for the municipality, Mr Joseph Ngala said, “The municipality has learned with shock that there is a group who forcefully removed the rightful owners from their houses over the weekend. “We condemn this act in the strongest terms and lawenforcement agencies have been informed and dispatched to the site to deal with this illegal action.”

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Ngala also stated that anyone caught occupying a house illegally, would face the full might of the law. “Victims of this illegal act must immediately report this matter to the police,” he said.

It is also alleged that the chaos spiralled out of control after the people discovered that an official from the department, whose identity is known to this publication, allegedly included his family members on the list of beneficiaries. Speaking to this publication, spokesperson for the department, Mr Freddy Ngobe said, “We are here in the area as a department and the municipality, to resolve this matter and we condemn, the act of removing beneficiaries from their houses.

We believe that, through the law-enforcement agencies, we will resolve this matter. All I know is that there were a number of officials from the department and municipality who worked with us during the handover event. We are aware of the allegations against our official. “An investigation is underway to determine the basis for those allegations.”