Cape Town - It has emerged that the decision to sell off the controversial Gatesville properties was taken when the ANC was running the Western Cape.
The complex, which is owned by the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements, has 136 units and the ANC in the province has been claiming the process of selling the units was not above board.
This came out in answer to a question from ANC provincial human settlements spokesperson Andile Lili about when and where the decision to sell the Gatesville rental units was taken and the rationale behind the decision.
Human Settlements MEC Tertuis Simmers said: “The decision was taken in 2005 and it is not clear what was the rationale behind the decision. A newspaper article at the time reported that it was meant to be pilot following requests from the community.
“It is wholly unacceptable that the former ANC-led government of 2004/5 made this commitment to these residents without following through. As a caring Western Cape government, we could not allow it to continue, particularly since we believe that ownership is a true form of empowerment.”
Replying to Simmers, Lili said: “In principle as the ANC we can’t be opposed to poor people getting houses from the government.
“However, we have to be clear that the purpose of the government’s rental stock is to help the government generate funds.
“This is different from social housing. The big issue is that the MEC and the department are not transparent and consistent.
“For a long time they hid from the public that tenants in Gatesville had stayed rent free in these units. Now the department will hand over the houses to them for free.
“To want to speak about pre-2009 as the MEC wants to do is an attempt to create a diversion and deflect attention away from his government’s abuse of resources to disperse patronage.”
Lili said the ANC will continue to monitor the development closely and that ways need to be found to get more African and Coloured people into these rental units.