Cases of housing fraud are being investigated in the Mkhondo Municipality, Mpumalanga. Recently, a house belonging to an elderly woman was given to someone else.
Municipal officials are fingered as the enablers of the fraud.
Twenty years ago, Hleziphi Mkhonza, registered for an RDP house, to date, she has still not received it. But this has not stopped her from trying.
This year she decided to register again, instead of being assisted, she was disappointed to learn, that according to the system, she already had an RDP house.
“It hurts me that they took away the house from me because where I’m staying there is water underground it get worse when it rains,” says Mkhonza.
It’s believed that her house was sold illegally, without her consent and knowledge. The province’s Human Settlements Department has promised to intervene.
And those found to have disadvantaged Mkhonza will be taken to task.
“We de-register the initial beneficiary who didn’t even receive the house and enroll them into another project while dealing with the criminal or fraudulent by the alleged culprit,” says Mpumalanga spokesperson for Human Settlements, Freddy Ngobe.
Houses are not the only things sold illegally in the province. Apparently, sites belonging to the government are also sold this way. The perpetrators are said to be councillors.
“Yes indeed there is corruption that occurred between the department and the municipality. We are also investigating those who were councillors who are also involved including over 120 sites being sold illegally,” says the Mayor.
For 89-year-old Hleziphi Mkhonza, there might be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. All she wishes for is to live to be the owner of a decent house that she can call home.
