Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Tasneem Motara has warned that beneficiaries who sell or rent out their government-subsidised homes risk losing them, saying the department will reclaim properties if qualifying owners are not living in them when title deed registration begins.
The warning was delivered in Soweto as government handed over the final 204 houses at the long-delayed Jabulani Parcel K housing project, bringing the number of completed RDP homes allocated at the development to 705.
“We are also tired; we are also fed-up,” Motara said, urging beneficiaries not to sell or rent out their houses.
The department began allocating homes at the project on August 12.
Motara said beneficiaries had been warned against transferring possession of their properties to tenants or selling them, adding that officials would verify occupancy when title deeds were registered.
“When we start the process of registering title deeds, if the Department does not find the beneficiary on the system in the house, we will remove the tenants and reallocate the house,” she said.
Motara said the government was often blamed for selling houses or allocating them to foreign nationals, but argued that beneficiaries who rent out or sell their homes contribute to the problem.
“If we do not find the qualifying beneficiary when we come to register for title deed, we will take your tenant out and we will take the house and allocate it to another qualifying person on the waiting list,” she said.
The department’s warning comes as the completion of Parcel K marks progress on a development held back for four years by delays in constructing an electricity substation.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Motara and City of Johannesburg human settlements MMC Mlungisi Mabaso attended the handover of the final 204 homes.
The wider development is planned to deliver 1,410 housing units across different categories, including 705 RDP walk-up units, 564 social housing units and 141 homes under the First Home Finance programme.
Motara thanked Eskom for assisting with electrification, saying further development depended on resolving electricity supply constraints in the area.
“This is a prime area of Soweto. We must bring the other housing typologies, but we must first unlock the electricity supply because we are now at full capacity of electricity,” she said.
For beneficiary Thoko Dlamini, the handover marked the end of a 30-year wait. She applied for a house in 1996 and is due to turn 70 on 20 December.
“I applied in 1996 and I have been patient. I thank the government because I no longer have means to buy a house. I am happy,” she said.
Despite being among the last beneficiaries to receive a home at Parcel K, Dlamini urged those still waiting for housing to remain patient.
IOL News
Kamogelo Moichela
iol.co.za
