DURBAN - Opposition parties in the eThekwini Municipality are calling on the Human Settlements Department to draw up a proper list for housing beneficiaries to end land invasions.
The status of the Inkanyezi Housing project near Mariannhill where 168 homes were invaded and construction workers threatened, was discussed at an eThekwini executive committee (exco) meeting this week.
After the discussions, the city pulled back on getting a list of those people who invaded houses to submit it to the Human Settlements Department in order to regularise the current occupants.
According to a report, eThekwini was responsible for the construction of the 1 050 sites. It was reported that between 1997 and 1999, a total of 843 sites were allocated to beneficiaries who were subsequently approved by the Department of Human Settlements.
The report stated that the project was divided into two phases, for 550 sites and 505 sites. However, the situation had changed drastically over the years due to invasions in the second phase. The contractor received death threats and was chased off the site, before completing the work. In 2018, a contractor was appointed to complete the remaining 324 top structures.
The 324 houses were invaded at various building stages – slabs, wall plates, roofs, doors, windows, plumbing as well as finishes. In a number of houses, structural repairs and remedial work were required, as some of them had been illegally completed by invaders, and some vandalised.
The report stated that the challenge was with people who were not approved or ineligible for the houses but were now occupying them due to invasion or misallocation.
Some houses were allocated to the correct beneficiaries, but some legitimate beneficiaries could not be located, and an advert was placed in newspapers. Some beneficiaries responded. Those who did not come forward were deregistered. There were 90 in total.
It was determined that some of the houses of those who came forward were invaded. The list of invaders was submitted to court for an eviction order against them. A court order was granted in favour of the legitimate beneficiaries.
Only 25 were able to move into their houses and the remainder could not because of them being attacked at night. Ten out of 203 beneficiaries moved into different houses within the project. The number of invaded houses stands at 168.
The Human Settlements Committee sought authority to identify a pocket of land to accommodate the 168 displaced beneficiaries whose houses were invaded.
Objections were lodged by opposition parties when recommendations were made to regularise the current occupants of the project.
DA eThekwini caucus chief whip Thabani Mthethwa said they could not be seen to be rewarding criminality.
“If people invade houses that do not belong to them, they must be charged. If there is an eviction order, we must enforce that order. We cannot be regularising people who are illegally occupying houses. It is for that reason that we will always be pushing for a ward-based housing list. You can go back to the list and allocate houses to the rightful people who deserve them.”
Deputy mayor Philani Mavundla said the committee would not be going ahead with regularising something that was illegal.
“When we go to court, the court directs us to provide these people with housing. We need to have a strategy on how we’re going to deal with it.”
Thabane Miya, EFF exco member, said his party could not support the eviction of “our own people because of our own wrongdoings”.
He said that as long as there was no ward-based housing list, such things could not be prevented.
“Let us not abuse power because we have resources, to go to court against our poor people. I still cannot get an answer on why the city does not have a housing list.”
eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said the committee must come up with better recommendations on what could be done.
“If people refuse to move after the court has directed them to move, what becomes the recourse of that? No one is above the law. All allocations are done because there is a list of beneficiaries. We do have an allocation process. There are lists, whether they are ward-based or (a) normal list.”
Daily News