Protestors recently blocked entrances to the Uthingo Park residential area to demonstrate their concerns about “certain issues” they are not happy about.
The protest took place on Wedenesday, November 7.
According to the protestors the lease agreement signed in 2002 was for them to lease and to buy after a couple of years, not as it is now, renting for ever. They also allege that they are being victimised by the CEO of Emalahleni Housing Company (EHC), Mr George Xaba and certain management officials.
The residents also say that they are forced to pay different amounts for the same house with the same number of rooms (some pay R1 400, others pay R2 600 for a one bed room house) which is not fair. They also alleged a daughter has been threatened with eviction after her father who was renting a house after he died last month. The family was not even given a chance to mourn for the father. The family does not have a place to stay they say.
The residents are complaining about poor service in their houses, they say grass is not cut and some of the houses have mould growing inside, some of the houses are leaking resulting in rain coming in.
They complained that they pay their electricity regularly and yet Emalahleni Housing Company owes the municipality.
They also alleged that one official threatened a resident with a gun. Residents also claim that they have called the CEO to several meetings but he has not honour any of the meetings.
They also alleged that every time they try to report problems at the offices, they are not helped. They indicated that sometimes they found their houses’ security gates welded while there are people inside, resulting in their children being traumatised. They say are also expected to pay R250 for ITC to check their credit records and to pay R300 for reconnection after a cut off.
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In response EHC said they operate in accordance with the Social Housing Act that was promulgated in 2008. The act expressly prohibits the sale of social housing units.
“All our lease agreements with our tenants are currently in accordance with the Social Housing Act. These lease agreements are explained in detail to our tenants at tenant training sessions before they are required to sign them. Tenants sign the lease agreements with full and complete understanding of its contents. Lease agreements signed prior to 2008, are similar in nature with no indication of tenants ever owning or leasing to buy any unit. We are prepared to provide the media with sample copies of all lease agreements mentioned herein,” reads a statement from EHC.
EHC stated that social housing rentals are regulated and calculated with the tenant in mind. Tenants within the lower income bands are subsidised and therefore pay lower rentals than unsubsidised tenants.
“EHC has not conducted evictions since March 2017. There is therefore no truth or substance to this allegation”.
“Emalahleni Housing Company has 22 permanent maintenance staff members who constantly and every day attend to the maintenance challenges and complaints by the tenants. The maintenance services are rendered to tenants who are up to date with their rental accounts. Some of the tenants have deliberately stopped paying rental. Cutting of grass and related services have been disrupted due to continuous unrest and the campaign aimed at hijacking the property and collapsing the project. The safety of the staff cannot be comprised hence the withdrawal of services until the situation is back to normal.”.
The statement further stated that 95% of electricity consumed at Uthingo Park is pre-paid. The municipality is billing Uthingo Park from bulk meter readings. EHC has been arguing that the municipality should reconcile the sales from pre-paid with the bulk meter and pass journals accordingly.
This has not been happening accordingly hence the dispute on the account. EHC cannot be liable for electricity consumed by tenants. It must be noted that EHC does not sell electricity and therefore cannot detect those who have tampered with the pre-paid meters. Suffice to say there is progress in negotiations to rearrange the management of sub-metering in a manner that will resolve the billing matter and put the matter to rest.
EHC say that there is no truth or substance on the allegation of an employee threatening a tenant with a gun.
“Legal action can be taken against anyone who uses a firearm to threaten somebody else.”
EHC says that they need further information on specific instances of victimisation by the CEO as alleged.
“Correspondence was sent out to residents of Uthingo Park on October 5 indicating that the EHC CEO and or officials will not address tenants at public gatherings due to the safety of the CEO, officials and tenants as the meeting that was arranged on October 2 did not serve its purpose as residents and Bhuti Mamba and his cohorts were unruly and threatened the safety of the CEO, EHC officials and tenants. EHC has a documented process where every problem that is reported by tenants is attended to within a maximum of 72 hours. Furthermore it does not make practical sense to institute lockouts while people are inside a unit. Without specific instances of such cases being mentioned, we find this allegation to be untruthful and without substance. Only newly allocated tenants are required to pay a R250 administration fee for ITC checks and further screening and allocation processes which is a once-off fee. A reconnection fee for electricity is payable when electricity is switched off due to non-payment. It is a control measure that EHC employs to avoid arrears,” added the statement.
