Endumeni municipality plans to auction Dundee employees’ houses
The Endumeni municipality will hold the auction this week and tenants have vowed to resist.
Occupants of nine municipal houses face eviction after the Endumeni Council resolved to auction the properties.
The auction is set to take place on February 7. The occupants, the majority of whom are municipal personnel, have been given until the end of February to vacate the properties.
However, those affected are crying foul, claiming that the municipality discriminated against them as those living in another seven (or so) Council houses were given an opportunity to pay a deposit and pay off the balance by way of a ‘rent-to-buy’ system.
“We have been discriminated against because of political affiliation as some occupiers of houses that are not to be auctioned only had to pay a menial deposit. We were denied that opportunity and had to seek bank loans to purchase the homes we have lived in for many years,” said Slovo Mbatha one of those who is set to be evicted.
“In my case, I could not even get a bank loan as the house I live in is on one erf with three other municipal houses. The erf needs to be subdivided which the municipality has not done.”
Speaking on behalf of the affected tenants, Mbatha said they pay market-related rent and rates to the municipality even though the houses are not in their names.
“The municipality has a duty to provide housing for all residents. Yet they are denying this right to their own workers who are been treated unfairly,” Mbatha told the Courier.
He said the municipality had not responded to letters sent in November 2023 and on January 18 wherein the tenants explained that they had no alternative accommodation and that the auction be called off and the occupiers given the same opportunity as others to purchase the homes they rent.
“We now have no alternative but to approach the Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector and the Auditor General. This will also lead to huge civil claims against the municipality (should the evictions proceed) which will put further strain on the financially strapped institution.”
In papers served on the municipality, the affected tenants say the decision to auction the house is a violation of their and their families’ human rights and the right to housing falls under the municipality’s basic mandate.
The municipality was asked to respond and this will be published once it is forthcoming.
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