Vusi Ndlovu
Vusi Ndlovu
Gauteng Housing Department has conceded that its officials blundered by allocating one stand to more than one family in at least 200 cases.
This at a low-cost housing scheme at the Winnie Mandela informal settlement in Tembisa on the East Rand.
About 200 irate families have already complained that other people occupy their stands.
"There was a problem on the side of the government when we allocated stands," said the department's spokesman Victor Moreriane.
"Some stands were doubly allocated, which means two families were given one stand. But we are working on the problem and the people who did not get their stands will be given priority when we allocate new stands."
These stands will only be allocated at some unknown future date, he said.
The confusion came to light when Titus Modika and other disgruntled residents complained that their stands had been handed to other desperate aspiring homeowners.
Modika said he applied for an RDP house in 1994. His application was approved in 2000 and he was granted a R15 000 subsidy. He was allocated a stand in the new township and a government-appointed construction company was instructed to build his house.
He and his family waited, and waited and waited. But no house was forthcoming. Then early this year Modika discovered that his stand was occupied by Sinah Mokgoloshi, who said the local housing office had allocated her the stand. This office has since been closed.
Modika and other aspirant homeowners produced copies of documents from the national Housing Department stating that they own the stands.
These were checked against a national register, which confirmed they were the official owners of the properties.
Those allocated stands by the municipal housing office don't have such documentation proving ownership of the properties they have occupied for the past six years.
But Mokgoloshi and the other homeowners refuse to give up the properties they were allocated.
But this is only the beginning of the bureaucratic bungling. Gauteng Housing Department's Moreriane said the stand that the national department had registered to Modika belonged to a third person, not the occupier Mokgoloshi.
She, meanwhile, has built two rows of rooms that she rents out.
Gauteng housing admits to double allocations of stands
Vusi Ndlovu
Vusi Ndlovu
Gauteng Housing Department has conceded that its officials blundered by allocating one stand to more than one family in at least 200 cases.
This at a low-cost housing scheme at the Winnie Mandela informal settlement in Tembisa on the East Rand.
About 200 irate families have already complained that other people occupy their stands.
"There was a problem on the side of the government when we allocated stands," said the department's spokesman Victor Moreriane.
"Some stands were doubly allocated, which means two families were given one stand. But we are working on the problem and the people who did not get their stands will be given priority when we allocate new stands."
These stands will only be allocated at some unknown future date, he said.
The confusion came to light when Titus Modika and other disgruntled residents complained that their stands had been handed to other desperate aspiring homeowners.
Modika said he applied for an RDP house in 1994. His application was approved in 2000 and he was granted a R15 000 subsidy. He was allocated a stand in the new township and a government-appointed construction company was instructed to build his house.
He and his family waited, and waited and waited. But no house was forthcoming. Then early this year Modika discovered that his stand was occupied by Sinah Mokgoloshi, who said the local housing office had allocated her the stand. This office has since been closed.
Modika and other aspirant homeowners produced copies of documents from the national Housing Department stating that they own the stands.
These were checked against a national register, which confirmed they were the official owners of the properties.
Those allocated stands by the municipal housing office don't have such documentation proving ownership of the properties they have occupied for the past six years.
But Mokgoloshi and the other homeowners refuse to give up the properties they were allocated.
But this is only the beginning of the bureaucratic bungling. Gauteng Housing Department's Moreriane said the stand that the national department had registered to Modika belonged to a third person, not the occupier Mokgoloshi.
She, meanwhile, has built two rows of rooms that she rents out.
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