POLOKWANE – THE illegal occupation of RDP houses is discouraged and condemned in the strongest terms and will not be tolerated, announced the Polokwane Municipality recently.
This after Greenside residents raised their concerns about several unoccupied RDP houses in the area, which according to them, have turned into hubs of criminal activity.
According to residents, most of these houses are occupied by foreign nationals, while several local residents have been on waiting lists for years.
Municipal spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene told Express that no one was allowed to occupy those houses before their applications were processed and approved.
“Those who know of any houses which are occupied illegally or by foreign nationals should report such to the municipality’s housing unit and provide those specific addresses,” Chuene said.
One of the residents, Daphney Morifi (35), said she had been waiting for a house for a long time, but still did not have one.
“We are many in my family and the house we are living in can no longer accommodate us all. My wish is to get my own house to make my life a lot easier,” said Morifi.
Another resident, Erick Ramonaka, said the municipality failed them and if this continued, there would be action from the residents.
Chuene said a survey of houses allocated to beneficiaries who later became untraceable had been conducted, along with a request to de-register.
“Beneficiaries from the Housing Subsidy System (HSS) have been sent to the department of cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs (Cohghsta) for further processing.
“This is so that the houses could be re-allocated to new beneficiaries, where after new beneficiaries will be sourced from the municipal database to occupy the houses,” she said.
Contacted for comment, Coghsta spokesperson, Motupa Selomo, said something was being done by the department throughout the province on cases of this nature.
“This is done through a programme called normalisation, which aimed to ensure that the right beneficiary occupied the right house,” said Selomo.
Residents concerned over empty RDP houses
Community up in arms over ‘RDP Spaza Shop’
