Illegal occupiers of RDP houses will be evicted, warns MEC

The MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta), Basikopo Makamu, has commissioned a verification process to confirm whether people who are staying in the low-cost (RDP) houses in Musina are the rightful owners or not. He said anyone found staying in an RDP house illegally would be evicted and the house reallocated to the rightful owner.

Makamu was addressing representatives of stakeholders during his public-participation programme at the New Nancefield Community Hall, Musina, two weeks ago.

“Every time when I do interviews on national radio stations, I get calls from Musina people complaining about the illegal occupation of RDP houses. I have also received several reports and complaints in this regard and today I decided to come and hear from the community members myself. I have brought my teams here today, so that they can assist me to get the relevant information to kickstart the verification process. We are here today because we know that there are problems and we need communities to give us information, so that we can solve those problems with the urgency they deserve,” said Makamu.

Makamu said he had deliberately delayed the handing over of 415 title deeds in Musina because he wanted to make sure that the title deeds were given to the rightful owners. “The verification process will help us to identify the rightful owners of the houses. Whoever gave the key to the illegal occupant of an RDP house will have to account. The verification team should give me biweekly reports before I personally come back to do my inspection. Our law-enforcement agencies will help us to evict everyone who is staying in an RDP house illegally. We cannot have a situation where poor people continue to remain victims of power abuse while we, as government, are not doing anything to protect them. We are here today to lay the basis of solving these RDP-house problems here in Musina. When we do our work in the offices, we should be informed by what the people on ground are saying. We need all the information from community members in order to solve these problems here in Musina.”

Stakeholders who raised concerns during the public-participation programme include the Musina Council of Churches, Senior Citizens Forum, Musina Gogo Getters, Musina Council of Churches, Musina Farmers Association, Musina Disability Forum, Musina Business Forum and Musina Economic Development Committee.

When responding to the concerns raised by community structures, the mayor of Musina, Cllr Mihloti Muhlope, said the engagement had been fruitful because the government now had first-hand information of what was happening on the ground.  She also welcomed Makamu’s low-cost housing verification process and said it would help to eliminate unlawful occupation of RDP houses in Musina. “All the issued raised here today will be given priority. Those that are not the competency of the municipality will be referred to the relevant departments and stakeholders for immediate attention,” she said.

Date:27 November 2020

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