Cape Town - Doors were kicked in and fences broken down when angry Khayelitsha residents forced their way into vacant houses belonging to Our Pride Housing Project in Eerste River over the weekend.
Bulelwa Makile said she was tired of waiting for the provincial government to give her a home. “It is very frustrating because when we go to the Human Settlements Department we are told that we do own houses in Eerste River and do not qualify for other housing applications, but in reality we still don’t have our houses.”
According to the government, the problem was a misunderstanding between “free houses” and subsidised gap market units.
Our Pride Housing Project is a government-funded initiative that provides “free houses” to people on the municipal housing list.
Bruce Oom, spokesman for the provincial housing department, said the gap market units were for people who earned between R1 500 and R3 500 a month. To apply for the subsidy a buyer had to go through a bank.
The invaders broke into three subsidised units and damaged 11 others. They had applied for “free houses”.
Makile said the houses had been completed in 2010. “We have been on the waiting list since,” she said.
Eerste River resident Malcolm Mamphuta saw the invasion and said this was the second one this year.
When the Cape Argus visited the area on Monday, most windows and doors had been repaired.
Oom said of the 229 gap market houses, 157 had been sold to qualifying beneficiaries and the rest had interested buyers.
He said the department had laid a charge against the invaders.