Housing in
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Housing in
Compiled by Richard Knight, July 2001
Housing
Statistics
|
House
completed since 1994:
1.1 million. These houses have secured
tenure, running water, sanitation and electricity. |
Number
of homes still needed: 2
to 3 million |
|
Number
of people given shelter in the past 5 years: 5 million |
Number
of people still in need of adequate housing: 7.5 million people |
|
Number
of rented council units transferred to full ownership: 370,000 |
Number
of rental council units still to be transferred to full private ownership: 350,000 |
Conflicts
and Challenges
Over one
million houses have been built and services have been extended to millions of
people. Nonetheless, the government estimates that an additional
This backlog
is exacerbated by high unemployment (in the neighborhood of 50% in most
townships), leaving millions of people unable to afford basic necessities. The Congress of South African Trade Unions
(COSATU) recently noted: "While Africans make up 76% of the population,
their share of income amounts to only 29% of the total. Whites, who make up
less than 13% of the population, take away 58.5% of total income." The HIV/AIDS pandemic, with 4.2 million
South African infected, is adding to the development problem. It is estimated that
GDP will be 17% lower for 2010 than it would be without AIDS
Even where
people are housed, conflicts continue over access to basic services and housing
payments. Reports regularly appear in
the South African press of the formation of committees of township residents
occupying unoccupied houses, and fighting the cut-off of water and electricity
for non-payment of rates and evictions for non-payment of mortgages.
Apartheid's Legacy
Under
apartheid, segregation was mandated by law.
Blacks could not live in "white" areas but had to live in
townships or in impoverished rural areas know as bantustans.
Very little housing was built for Africans by the apartheid regime. As a result when the ANC led government came
to power there was only 1 formal brick house for every 43 Africans compared to
one for every 3.5 whites. The urban
backlog alone was estimated as at least 1.3 million units in 1994. To meet population growth, 130,000 houses have
to be built every year. In 1993 only
about 50,000 houses were built. Between
7.5 and 10 million people lived in informal housing such as shanties in
squatter camps and back yards of Black township houses. In the 1980s, as part of the struggle against
apartheid, township residents organized rent and services payment
boycotts.
Today,
millions of people still live in shanties and squatter camps. The government estimates that an additional
Housing
Policy
In 1994 the African National Congress adopted
the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP),
an integrated socio-economic policy framework which is now the policy if the
government. The RDP set a goal of
300,000 houses to be built a year with a minimum of one million low-cost houses
to be constructed within five years.
Adequate Housing - Law of the Land
Section 26 of the Constitution of the
The establishment of legal rights to housing
began in 1997 the Housing Act was passed.
A comprehensive National Housing Code was issued in 2000. (A complete
copy of the Housing Code is available on the Ministry of Housing web site www.housing.gov.za.)
The
Housing Act, “housing development” is defined as:
1(vi) “… the
establishment and maintenance of habitable, stable and sustainable public and
private residential environments to ensure viable households and communities in
areas allowing convenient access to economic opportunities, and to health,
educational and social amenities in which all citizens and permanent residents
of the Republic will, on a progressive basis, have access to:
(a) permanent
residential structures with secure tenure, ensuring internal and external
privacy and providing adequate protection against the elements; and
(b) potable
water, adequate sanitary facilities and domestic energy supply.”
Other
Acts that impact on housing needs are: Rental Housing Act (1999) to
ensure that more houses are provided for rental purposes and to regulate the
behavior of unscrupulous landlord to they do not charge exorbitant rents. The
Act provides for a dispute mediation between landlord
and tenants and outlaws the evicting of long-standing tenants from their homes
with mediation. Housing Consumer
Protection Measurers Act (1998) aims to protect homeowners from inferior
workmanship. Builders are responsible
for design and material defects for three months, roof leaks for a year and
structural defects for five years. The Home Loan and Mortgage
Disclosure Act
(2000) (modeled after the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act in the
The
government's goal, as set out in the Housing Code, is the provision of 350,000
houses per annum until the housing backlog is overcome. Currently about 200,000 are being built
annually. Broad principles of housing
policy include people centered delivery and partnerships; skills transfer and
economic empowerment; fairness and equity; choice; quality and affordability;
innovation; transparency, accountability and monitoring; and sustainability and
fiscal affordability.
The
ability of government to provide housing is restricted by its macro-economic
policy known as GEAR. Two important
goals of this policy are to reduce inflation and reduce government expenditure
to below 4% of GDP. This in effect
limits the amount which government can spend on social needs including housing.
Access to
financing remains a major challenge to low cost housing development. The 1994
White Paper estimated that at least 70% of
The
government has come up with a series of programs to help people finance the
purchase of houses. Over 1 million
housing subsidies have been provided.
This includes the Rural Housing Loan Fund that has financed some 25,000
loans for low-income housing.
The
government has a series of programs that allocate subsidies according to
recipients’ income. To date, over 1.3
million subsidies have been approved.
.
|
Monthly Beneficiary Income |
Subsidy Amount |
|
Up to R1,500 ($180) |
R16,000 ($1,939) |
|
R1,501 to R2,500 ($180 to $300) |
R10,000 ($$1,212) |
|
R2,501 to R3,500 ($300 to $420) |
R5,500 ($667) |
|
Note: These
calculations reflect the exchange rate of R1 = $0.1212 |
|
Banks have
been reluctant to provide housing finance and the government is having ongoing
discussions with the banks. The recent
collapse of the Gateway home loan program, which sought to create housing
opportunities for low and moderate-income households through an effective
secondary market, has been blamed in part on the lack of support from banks.
There
are significant differences in each province that need to be taken in
account. The Housing code notes that
53.7% of the population lives in urban areas.
The most urbanized provinces are
In
addition to building new houses, some 370,000 rented council houses have been
transferred to full private ownership and a further 350,000 houses are
scheduled to be transferred. The
government has also setting up a national rental housing company.
Criticisms of the housing being built includes quality, size (many are
very small) and location (numerous identical houses in areas with no social or
economic infrastructure). Many of the
houses that have been built are what are popularly known as "RDP
houses." Some RDP houses are so
small and badly built that people joke that they are "so small you need to
go outside to change your mind."
The government has been working to overcome these problems.
Sometimes
there are conflicts over housing. The Gauteng Housing Department is moving approximately 3,000
families from Alexandra to an area of
Services
Between 1994
and 2000, 1.5 million new electrification connections have been established and
4 million more people given access to clean running water. This means that many people now use
electricity for cooking. The impact can
be seen in the recent closing of a match factory due to declining demand. Many of these connections are for a special
kind of pre-paid meter. However, many
people have been unable to afford to pay for these services. A recent survey by USAID found that South
Africans were willing but unable to pay for services. According to press reports,
During the
1999 election campaign the ANC promised to provide free electricity and water
to the poorest households. However, it
is expected to take some time, perhaps years, before this promise can be fully
met.
Twenty-three
million people (51% of the population) now receive a basic free water allowance
of six kiloliters each month. However, it is expected to take some time,
perhaps years, before this promise can be fully achieved. Issues to be resolved include finance and
infrastructure. Another 15 million
people live in local government areas where the local government has not
decided to implement the water policy or are in the process of doing so. An
estimated seven million people live in areas where there is no infrastructure
for the supply of water. And the government has allocated R1.1 billion to
address this problem.
Provision of
electricity also faces many obstacles including the privatization of
Eskom. Households in 16
rural development areas will this month begin receiving 50 kilowatt-hours free
of electricity as national government continues to explore ways of making
energy affordable for
Recently
there have been protests in a number of townships resulting from the cut-off of
water and electricity due to non-payment.
There have also been evictions due to non-payment of mortgages (known in
Conclusion
|
(excerpts) |
|
Government’s overall approach to the housing challenge is aimed at mobilising and harnessing the combined resources, efforts
and initiative of communities, the private sector, and the State. This approach has been adopted against the
backdrop of severe market and societal abnormalities associated with the
policies and political turbulence of the pre-democratic era. The goal
within both urban and rural areas is to improve the quality of living of all
South Africans. The emphasis of our
efforts must be on the poor and those who have been previously
disadvantaged. To meet this goal in a
manner that is viable and sustainable, we understand that we need to
undertake a range of interventions.
These interventions then underpin our policy and strategy…as contained
in the Urban and Rural Development Frameworks. Government’s
goal is, subject to fiscal affordability, to increase housing delivery on a
sustainable basis to a peak level of 350 000 units per annum until the
housing backlog is overcome. It is
expected that this process may take several years. Realisation of
the goal relies on government ensuring that its implementation systems in all
three spheres of government can accommodate the budget allocation and
delivery programme. In
Our
vision is further reiterated in both the Urban and Rural Development
frameworks. In each of these
documents, the environment within which a house is situated is recognised as being equally as important as the house
itself in satisfying the needs and requirements of the occupants. Ultimately, the housing process must make a
positive contribution to a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and integrated
society. |
Sources:
Much of the information in the Statistics and Policy
sections is taken from the Ministry of Housing web page, including the National
Housing Code, the ANC web site, selected news reports and the Reconstruction
and Development Programme. This includes much of the language in the
text. Other sources include
Spelling: In
quotes from South African text and titles South African spelling is used. In
other places
Press
Reports on Housing
Mail &
Guardian (
Housing
Shortage Still Desperate
By Barry Streek
About 7,5-million people in
Since 1994
about 1,129-million houses have been built, and secured tenure, running water,
sanitation and electricity provided.
Minister of
Housing Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele
says the provision of more than 1,1-million homes in
six years was an achievement that very few, if any, countries had matched.
"Five
million South Africans who did not have a roof over their heads, will return at
the end of today to a place they call home, will have running water and sanitation,
which they did not have before we embarked on this journey," Mthembi-Mahanyele said during her policy speech in the
National Assembly last
week.
Mthembi-Mahanyele also said at an earlier press briefing that 7,5-million
people are still without shelter, and "between two and three million"
houses still had to be built to meet this need.
Many of
these people are living in informal settlements in urban areas, where 53,6% of the population live, whereas others share
accommodation. The pace of housing
delivery annually has declined -- from 300 000 in 1997 to about 200 000 the
following year.
"We
will be slowing down further -- we have to look at the quality issue and at
tenure alternatives," Mthembi-Mahanyele said.
Mthembi-Mahanyele said the housing situation had been exacerbated by inappropriate
policies, a skewed distribution of resources and wealth and the general
factors, such as growing economies, which draw people to the cities. "As a result of the shortage of adequate
and available shelter, people occupy any vacant land they find and put up
shacks in areas without sanitation, infrastructure or social amenities.
"Others
occupy old disused and/or abandoned structures, or prefabricated buildings of
inferior material, some at an advanced stage of decay." Mthembi-Mahanyele said since 1994 the government has
consolidated more than 10 different housing departments, fragmented policies
and 34 pieces of legislation.
She said
this was a journey that "took us through the potholes of reluctance by financial
institutions to extend credit to previously marginalised
communities and redlining, and defusing the landmines of fraud, corruption and
criminal activity".
One of the
Department of Housing's flagship programmes, the
upgrading of informal settlements, involves 293 different projects that benefit
232 000 families who had their shacks converted into proper homes.
Copyright © 2001 Mail & Guardian. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
****
South
African Press Association, June 19 2001
NEW
BILL AIMS TO PROMOTE INVESTMENT IN POOR AREAS
New
draft legislation aimed at promoting private sector investment in poor
communities would be presented to Cabinet this year, Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele said on
Tuesday.
Introducing
debate on her budget vote in the National Assembly, she said the Community
Reinvestment Bill would follow legislation which had stopped banks
"redlining" or discriminating against loan applicants from poor
communities.
The
Home Loan and Mortgage Disclosure Act - passed last year - had forced banks to
disclose their reason for not advancing a home loan or mortgage.
The
new bill would form the "next phase of this intervention", Mthembi-Mahanyele said.
It
would also identify "causal deterrents" to investments and create
incentives.
Access
to finance remained the greatest challenge facing low-cost housing development.
Since
1994, the government had established four finance institutions in an effort to normalise the housing loan environment.
Some
of the instruments had not worked out as they should have, such as the Gateway Homeloans project.
Mthembi-Mahanyele said on Monday that banks had played a major role
in contributing to the failure of the project, a home-finance scheme set up by
the National Housing Finance Corporation in 1998.
Banks
were "very hesitant" to finance housing for low-income earners, she
said.
The
South African Communist Party said in a statement on Tuesday it believed the
failure of the scheme and continued evictions of residents defaulting on their
home-loan payments, pointed to a need to intensify the campaign to make banks
serve the people.
In
her address in the National Assembly, Mthembi-Mahanyele
said more than five million poor South Africans were provided with housing over
the past six years, but there remained a backlog of seven-and-a-half million
people who needed proper shelter.
She
said 1,1-million houses had been built over this
period, all with secure tenure, running water, sanitation and electricity.
But
another two to three million units were still needed.
A
total of 53,6 percent of the country's population
lived in urban areas - most in informal settlements because of a shortage of
adequate shelter.
Mthembi-Mahanyele said her department had upgraded 293 projects and
provided 232000 families in informal settlements with proper houses.
****
South
African Press Association, CAPE TOWN 22 June 2001
MBEKI WANTS
BANKS TO HELP HOUSING DELIVERY
The
country's banks were not pulling their weight to help government speed up
housing delivery, President Thabo Mbeki said on
Friday.
Questioned
by the public broadcaster about housing, he said: "It would also help a
great deal if there was a much better response from the banks on this
matter."
The
government had not succeeded in getting banks to supply funding to help support
its housing programme.
Housing
Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele
was discussing the issue with the financial institutions.
"I have
said to her I would also like to meet them myself.
"There
seems to be great risk aversion from the banks and they don't want to get
involved and that limits the possibility of speeding up the availability of new
homes," Mbeki said.
Earlier this
week, Mthembi-Mhanyele told Parliament that more than
five million poor South Africans were provided with housing over the past six
years, but there remained a backlog of seven-and-a-half million people who
needed proper shelter.
She said 1,1-million houses had been built over this period, all with
secure tenure, running water, sanitation and electricity.
However,
another two to three million units were still needed.
****
Municipal services: Willing
to pay, but too poor [News24.co.za]
http://www.news24.co.za/News24/South_Africa/0,1113,2-7_1044945,00.html
A recent survey showed South Africans
were willing to pay for municipal services like water and sewage removal, but
could not afford to, the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) said on Thursday.
"Five to ten years ago,
people struggling against apartheid were politically motivated to refuse paying
for the rates they used," said Lucius Botes, project leader of the Centre for Development Support
at the University of the Free State, which conducted the research commissioned
by USAid. Now people had the will to pay, but not the
means.
The research found widespread
unemployment.
"The poverty of many
households in low-paying areas mean people cannot afford rates charges, though
most say they would be willing to make at least partial payments."
There were high levels of
satisfaction with the provision of electricity, water, waste disposal and other
municipal services.
"The report indicates
poverty, not a culture of non-payment, seems to be the main reason for default
of payment in most instances."
The study was prompted by the
Project Viability Report of 1998, which indicated that total debt to all
municipalities for the 18-month period up to March that year exceeded R8.5
billion.
Some 1599 households from 32
places across the country participated in the survey.
Policies to help the poorest
of the poor to afford access to basic services would partly alleviate the
problem of non-payment, the report stated.
"The study implies that
government will need to evaluate and monitor these policies to ensure that they
are fiscally sound and sustainable."
The researchers suggested
municipalities should stimulate job creation through appropriate local economic
development activities, like small business promotion through private-public
partnerships.
****
South
African Press Association, JOHANNESBURG 22 June 2001
SOWETO
ELECTRICITY COMMITTEE STAGE A SIT-IN AT ESKOM
Soweto
Electricity Crisis Committee members staged a sit-in at the Eskom offices in Braamfontein on Friday after a meeting aimed at resolving a
conflict failed to bear fruit.
Committee
spokeswoman Dudu Mphenyeke
said Eskom invited the members to a meeting on Friday and they went assuming
they would get a response from Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo
to a memorandum they handed to him during a march earlier this month.
Instead
Eskom representatives told the committee that the government would provide free
electricity only if residents paid their arrears, she said.
"How
can we pay areas when there are people sitting with areas totalling
R96000," Mphenyeke said.
She said the
members would continue the sit-in until Masondo, who
she claimed promised residents free electricity during his election campaign,
addressed them.
"Actually
we want Masondo to implement a promise he made during
his campaign. He promised us free electricity," she said.
Masondo's
spokesman Kgotso Chikane
said the mayor had informed the residents that he was waiting for a response
from Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
He said the
mayor had a meeting with the minister after receiving the memorandum. Mlambo-Ngcuka promised to take the matter to Cabinet for
advice.
Chikane said
the Metro was hamstrung and had no mandate to order Eskom to provide free
electricity because the power company was controlled by the national
government.
Mphenyeke
accused Eskom of divisionism, alleging the paratastal
had run a radio advert which called on senior citizens to visit its offices and
sign documents in regard to their arrears.
"The (comittee) rejects this move because it is a repetition of
the agreement signed by Sowetans three years ago
which was found to be...against the laws of natural justice. In that agreement,
senior citizens were duped to sign (sic), signing meant signing away your
rights as a customer."
She said the protestors would spend the night at the offices and would only leave after Masondo addressed them. Eskom was unavailable for comment.****
South
African Press Association, JOHANNESBURG June 30 2001
GOVT
INVESTIGATING CHEAPER ENERGY
The
government was investigating various ways to make energy affordable to the
country's poorest households, Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday.
Government
would begin the process this month by providing free basic electricity of 50 kilowatt-hour per month to people in 16 different rural
development nodes countrywide, she told reporters in
Last year
government announced that free basic services would be provided for those
households earning less than R800 per month.
"I must
confess we underestimated the administrative and technological
challenges," Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
"We realised that the administrative co-ordination was so
chaotic that to have left each municipality to devise its own means was going
to come back and haunt all of us."
She lauded
municipalities which were, on their own, trying to find ways to assist the
poorest under their jurisdiction.
Municipalities
could conceivably finance the free basic energy by means of cross-subsidisation or from the allocation they received from the
National Treasury.
However,
constitutionally the national government could not dictate to the
municipalities how they should use those funds, Mlambo-Ngcuka
said.
That option
tended to work well in the richer municipalities, she said. Cross-subsidisation - whereby richer households pay more and the
poorest pay less - was impossible in areas where there was no source to cross-subsidise from.
National
government had to find money from its own budget to kick-start the process in
the 16 nodes identified by President Thabo Mbeki in
his State-of-the-Nation address in February.
It included
technological conversion, for instance of pre-paid electricity meters.
The roll-out
would continue until March next year when a strategy would be devised for the
next set of nodes, Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
By then,
preparation would be underway for six regional electricity distributors (REDs), set to take over from the current figure of about
250 businesses.
A decision
would then also be made on the possibility to provide free basic electricity to
everyone, and step up the tariff for higher consumption.
The free
electricity of 50 kilowatt-hour per month would save a
household about R180 per year.
It would
mean each household would have access to energy for lighting, ironing, limited
cooking, water heating as well as the use of a radio and a black and white
television.
Those using
solar energy would receive an operation and maintenance subsidy of up to R40
per household. These households currently paid about R48 per month to maintain
solar panels, the minister said.
In terms of
the policy of energy efficiency, Eskom's project on
efficient light would be piloted in a number of areas, whereby free
energy-saving globes would be experimented with to determine if they could
reduce consumption.
Other
measures to make energy more affordable included exempting paraffin from
value-added tax.
No specific
arrangements had been made for liquid petroleum gas (LPG), as few poor people
used it. However, the government wanted people to use LPG instead of paraffin
for safety reasons, Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
A mechanism
could not be found to subsidise the poorest people
who used wood and cow dung for energy, she said.
All the
experiences gathered from the different pilot projects would be assessed in
order to help the government - probably through REDs
- with the ultimate roll-out of free basic energy that would start in 2002/3,
the minister said.
****
South
African Press Association, CAPE TOWN July 1 2001
FREE WATER
GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN WITH FEW HITCHES: DEPT
About 23
million people who were promised a basic six kilolitres of free water per
household by their local governments had benefited since Sunday, the Department
of Water Affairs and Forestry said on Monday.
The department's
director general Mike Muller said: "Everything
has gone according to plan. Although people in some areas are disappointed that
they have been left out, the understanding is that there are a few problems in
the new local government areas...."
Many municipalities
had either not yet decided to implement the policy, or were in the process of
doing so.
Earlier it
was reported that Pietermaritzburg ratepayers would
have to wait another three months to receive their free water. Msunduzi municipality officials (which incorporates Pietermaritzburg municipality) cited technical and
administrative difficulties and uncertainty as the reasons for its failure to
deliver the services, especially in rural poor communities.
Muller said:
"We will be helping those specific municipalities with the planning and
budgeting so that they can introduce and implement the free basic water to
every household as soon as possible."
"The
big gap and major problem faces those people who do not have access to water
infrastructure. But for that group we are spending R1.1-billion this year in
order to bring water to nearly one and a half million people and we think we
are making good progress on that front also."
In a
statement issued earlier on Monday, Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Ronnie Kasrils said: "I need to emphasise
that consumers should continue paying for water until their respective local
governments have informed them of their arrangements.
"In
many of the rural areas, the department is still the water service provider,
and although water is provided free, there is often inadequate control over the
actual usage."
This
resulted in some households often using more than the free basic amount of 6000
litres a month.
Spokesman
for the Johannesburg executive mayor, Kgotso Chikane said the government's policy would not make a
difference to rich households but would help the very poor.
"It
will really make a difference to people living in shacks and small houses and
come as a tremendous relief and really be a good proposition if these people
use their water sparingly since they will find that they won't have to pay if
they don't require more water than allocated."
He said the
government was also sorting out matters regarding body corporates
running flats and townhouses in order to avoid tenants being cheated or
exploited regarding the free water.
Chikane said
his department was also working around the clock to ensure that the city,
together with Eskom provided free electricity to residents in Johannesburg in
the near future.
***
ANC
provincial leader Ebrahim Rasool
yesterday again called for a moratorium on all evictions. This week has seen
evictions and water cut-offs across the Cape Flats. Many more families face
eviction while communities under the leadership of the anti-eviction alliance
are trying to resist the evictions.
On
Thursday 21 June , the ANC's office in Mitchell's
Plain was flooded by people who had been evicted. An emergency legal aid clinic
was set up while ANC members made arrangements to accomodate
those with nowhere to stay. It is clear that the Unicity
is not following due process in regard to many of the evictions taking place.
The ANC is in the process of compiling affidavids of
those evicted who say they never received a summons and other who say that they
went in to make arrangements to pay but their money was not accepted by the
council.
Mr Rasool
said;
"When
the DA gained control of the unicity on 5 December
2000 the ANC called on them to place a moratorium on all evictions until a
common indigent policy was adopted by the new council. Both
"The
DA promised jobs for all. They promised to be for all the people. Now we see
their promises lying in tatters. Now they are trying to stop the ANC's campaign
for fair rates by forcing a 7 % rates increase for all ratepayers. Under the
ANC in 2000 , we had actually brought rates down in
places like Mitchell's Plain. These areas have been paying high rates and subsidising the wealthy areas like Camps Bay and Sea Point.
"Many
people who are being evicted simply cannot afford to pay. Others have tried to
make arrangements and then fell behind. Tygerberg
does one thing. SPM says something else. There is no common policy. While this
is happening people are suffering. Families are being broken up. Children are traumatised.
"The
ANC know that some people are illegally occupying houses and that some houses
are used by gangsters. These issues must be dealt with.
"The
only way to move forward is to stop the evictions now and agree on a policy
which will benefit those who genuinely cannot pay and expose those who simply
don't want to pay. If the DA does not agree to this, the suffering of innocent
and poor people will continue."
Contact:
Head of Communications Cameron Dugmore on 082 894
7553
****
Sunday
Times 9/7/01
Evictions
loom in suburbs
By Edwin
Lombard
Department
of housing is set to turn the screws on tenants who owe millions of rands in rent arrears
Scores of
tenants in well-off areas could soon face the same fate as those in Mitchell's
Plain and elsewhere on the Cape Flats who have been evicted over the
non-payment of rent and services. The provincial department of housing is set
to turn the screws on tenants who together owe millions of rands
in rent arrears. Cecil Herandien, provincial minister
of housing, said he was compiling lists of tenants in the former white areas of
Parow, Goodwood and Sercor Park in the Helderberg who
since 1991 have not paid rent for their government-owned homes.
In one area
in the Helderberg alone, tenants owe in excess of
R100 000 each. Twenty-seven families
that appear on the list owe a combined amount of over R2-million. The debts
have been accumulated since 1991. Monthly rentals for these areas vary from
between R150 to R400.
"I'm
compelled to act against these people otherwise I will be accused by the
auditor-general of maladministration," said Herandien.
He said if defaulters did not make arrangements to pay off r arrears, "we
will have to act against them."
Residents on
the Cape Flats who have been forcibly evicted by officials from the unicity council for the past three weeks accused the
DA-controlled provincial government of treating tenants in slightly more well-off
areas with kid gloves while treating them "like animals."
Ayesha Davids of the Anti-Eviction campaign on the
only act
against those tenants who were administered by the provincial department of
housing.
Louwtjie
Rothman, DA councillor for Goodwood,
said he was unaware of the planned evictions.
Herandien said
the arrears owed to both the provincial department of housing as well as local
government was seriously undermining the province's
ability to address the backlog in housing. He also said the DA in the province
had formulated a provincial housing policy on the handling of all issues of
housing.
"What
it will come down to is that we will draw up a poverty profile that will
distinguish between people who don't want to pay and those that simply cannot
pay." Residents of Lavender Hill will hold a public gathering today to
collect affidavits from people who claim to have been assaulted by police
during an eviction attempt in the area last week.
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