More than 200 RDP houses are being used as spaza shops, driving schools and pre-schools, while many poor people continue to be homeless

Most of the houses are still registered in the names of the lawful owners, who are either based in Gauteng full-time or are elsewhere in the country.

Some houses were found to have been allocated to well-offs, who have since turned them into money-generating venues.

It is also alleged that some of the houses have been occupied by foreign nationals who are renting them. Most such houses are in Westenburg, Phalaborwa, Lephalale, Burgersfort and Musina in Limpopo.

Spokesperson for the department of local government and housing, Dioketseng Diale, said more than 200 houses were found to be used not for the purposes they had originally been intended for.

She said some are being used for economic activities.

According to the law an RDP house may not be sold or rented out within eight years of occupation and those found transgressing the law will be punished, she said.

Edmond Mbetse of Speak Out a nongovernmental organisation in Phalaborwa, said research conducted between last September and January this year had revealed that 39 RDP houses at Namakgale and Lulekane had been used for commercial purposes.

Mbetse said of the 39 houses one was used as a spaza shop owned by Ethiopian nationals, three as pre-schools and the remaining ones for rental.

Elmon Tshikodo, of Shayandima in the Vhembe region, said another RDP house at Tswinga village outside Thohoyandou had been turned into a spaza shop and a tavern.

In Lephalale, more than 100 houses at Thabo Mbeki RDP house section had cracked because they were built on wetlands.

Eight the houses had been left unoccupied for years because their owners had abandoned them.

Meanwhile, PAC provincial secretary Aubrey Ngoatle, said at Praktiseer, outside Burgersfort, more than 12 RDP houses had been used for rental purposes.