Evelyn Motswene, 51, bought her own house twice and still ended up spending two weeks in jail for alleged housebreaking and trespassing at her own property.

Motswene, a resident of Beverly Hills in Evaton, south of Johannesburg, is one of more than 300 people who applied for a government housing subsidy but ended up losing their homes after failing to service their loans.

Last week, about 100 Evaton residents trashed the reception area of the Gauteng human settlement department's offices. Their frustration over the individual housing subsidy (IHS) began in 2014 and boiled over after delays in releasing the funds to save their homes from being repossessed. The subsidy was meant to help people who are "too well-off" for RDP houses but too poor for bank mortgages.

Motswene defaulted on her bank repayment for several months after her husband's salary was cut. Her home was then repossessed and sold at an auction despite her application for the subsidy being approved. She then bought back her own house from the new owner for R200000, which she started paying last February.

"I'm just boarding here because it's not my house any more," Motswene said.

Documents from the deeds office show that her house was bought by five other people since she took ownership.

Ndade Mxunya, committee secretary, said they had captured 820 families that needed assistance and only 101 have been helped in the Vaal.

"We are being told that there is no budget but the backlog keeps growing yearly.

"In 2016 there was an agreement between us and the department to pay these people but only 101 families received their title deeds, while the rest are facing (prospect of) losing their houses," he said.