Residents demand answers about RDP houses during meeting at Diepkloof Hall

Residents of Noordgesig, Diepkloof and Orlando gathered at the Diepkloof Hall for a meeting to raise their dissatisfaction over the issue of unallocated RDP houses.

This comes after the MEC for Human Settlements and Infrastructure Development, Lebogang Maile handed over 555 title deeds to qualifying and deserving beneficiaries in the City of Tshwane.

Their meeting saw residents coming in numbers to be addressed by officials from the office of the MMC for Human Settlement and the City of Johannesburg as well as ward committee members raising some of the concerns that residents face.

ALSO READ: Maponya Mall Community Hub and American Corner host learners for historical lesson

Noordgesig ward committee member for housing, Ashely Louw said there are residents who applied for hoses between 1996 and 2013 but still have not been allocated anything.

“There are various reasons why we called this meeting today and one of those reasons is to have residents hear excuses from the officials themselves because they are tired of being sent from pillar to post.

“It’s been long since people applied for houses and today we have overcrowded families due to the housing issue not being resolved.

“We want to know what is the update from the officials so that residents know what to do going forward,” Louw said.

Some of the issues that were touched on in the meeting include the issue of parents that applied for houses in 1996 but passed away and how their children can benefit from the programme.

The issue of the housing application data list that was allegedly done manually from the community, houses that are currently vacant at Lufhereng as well as allegations of corruption and people buying RDP houses were also raised during the meeting.

The meeting took a sharp turn and was almost disrupted when residents felt that officials were failing to respond to their questions.

ALSO READ: Eldos feeding scheme pleads community for donations

One pensioner who stood up to pose questions to the officials sheared tears when she explained her current living conditions alleging that it has been over 20 years since she was allocated a house which she is currently not occupying.

“There is an unknown family that was allocated a house that I was supposed to be staying in while I live in horrible conditions.

“What breaks my heart even further is that I was called by the City to pay outstanding levies while I haven’t been in this property even once,” she said while pleading with the officials from the Department of Human Settlements to come to her rescue.

Addressing the meeting, the area manager for Human Settlements in Dobsonville, Moabi Pekanes said, ”Issues that are here are more personal and as officials we cannot respond to them in a public space. Our offices are open for residents to come and raise their concerns together with relevant documents so that they can be assisted.”