‘RDP houses are not for sale’: MMC slams those selling homes to foreigners

Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) of Human Settlements in Johannesburg, Mlungisi Mabaso, has urged beneficiaries of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses not to sell them.

Mabaso has recently been appointed as Human Settlements MMC replacing Anthea Leich from the Patriotic Alliance (PA) who resigned.

RDP houses are not for sale!

In an interview with The Citizen Mabaso said he was concerned with reports of beneficiaries selling RDP houses and being left without homes.

“RDP houses are not for sale they are provided to citizens who are unable to rent or buy houses. We advise the beneficiaries to keep the houses as family houses,” he said.

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According to Mabaso, there were instances where RDP owners sold their houses and went back to informal settlements.

“We want to irradicate informal settlements so it is important that people stay in their houses,” he said.

‘It’s even worse when they sell them to foreign nationals’

He denied that the Human Settlements department had issued houses to foreign nationals. He said foreign nationals who occupied RDP houses bought the houses from South Africans who sold them.

“The foreign nationals that own these houses, they buy them from the owners. It’s even worse when they sell them to foreign nationals,” he said.

Fraud and Corruption

Mabaso said he planned on ridding the Human Settlement department of corruption and fraud.

“We want to introduce a programme that will deal with fraud and corruption in the department. We want to educate our residents about scams and when to pay for government services,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Mabaso said he would expedite the delivery of RDP houses for people who have been on the waiting list for a long time.,

“We are hoping to fast-track service delivery and ensure that people who have been waiting for the houses receive them,” he said.

He said he hoped that the City of Johannesburg can stabilise the government so that all departments can meet their service delivery objectives.

“We are hoping for a stable government so we can be able to achieve our objectives,” he said.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) was expected to be part of a new coalition arrangement that will be headed by the African National Congress (ANC).

The arrangement will involve Action SA in the legislature and the ANC and its coalition partners in the executive and portfolio committees.