Ekurhuleni Municipality has been fined almost R1.5 million for failing to provide housing for applicants 20 years after the RDP houses being allocated to them.
The Court ruled that the Municipality is in contempt of a December 2017 court order, in which it was compelled to provide houses and land to 135 applicants living in the Winnie Mandela informal settlement by December 2018.
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa’s (SERI) Khululiwe Bhengu says due to corruption and maladministration the houses were given to people who were not on the list.
“The 133 applicants who are residents in the Winnie Mandela informal settlement, they applied for their RDP houses. Their subsidies were approved but because of corruption or maladministration from the municipality of Ekurhuleni, those houses were given to other people. So, they are living in shacks in squalor conditions with no access to services but they know where their houses are. They engaged with the municipality for a number of years and when that failed, they then approached us to try and seek assistance to see if we can go to court to get some sort of help which we did in 2015.”
