A group of Mfuleni residents are furious fter discovering that their homes had been allocated to other people while they had documents proving that they were waiting to move in after completion of the construction.
The residents said they had been approved for housing subsidies in 2016 and were informed that they would move into their homes once the construction company completed the building of Bardale Housing Projects.
Construction of the houses began at the end of July.
The residents allege that 275 houses had been built for them were 275 and now there were only 33 house which had not been occupied.
They pointed out that after the completion of the houses in Bardale Housing Projects, they expected that they would be called and be allocated houses.
However, they said, they waited and no one contacted them.
Beneficiary, Nomawethu Mzazi, said she visited the project manager to enquire as and when they would be allocated their homes since the houses had been completed.
But, she said, she was told that after two months she would be allocated her house.
However, two months have gone by now and that has failed to happen.
Ms Mzazi said had visited the project manager countless times but she was sent from pillar to post without being given proper answers.
A visibly angry Ms Mzazi said the pending joy and hope of living in a decent house had quickly turned into a bitter pill to swallow. She said she has been living in an informal settlement for 21 years while she had been on the housing waiting list.
Furthermore, she said, what hurt her the most was the fact that some of the people that had been given their homes did not come from their area.
She claimed some had not been approved for a housing subsidy but had been given houses.
Ms Mzazi said her shack was riddled with holes, particularly the roof and that was a health hazard for her only child.
She said she was unable to afford a house on her own and if she had the money she would have bought a house a long time ago.
She wanted to know how the people who had been allocated houses were given houses without following proper procedures.
She said she suspected fraud and corruption.
“ I have papers that prove I was approved for a house. I just want my house – nothing more.
“These houses were built for us not other people.
“How is it that people who do not belong to that housing project be given houses while us eligible people are without houses? We can’t apply for other houses because we will not be eligible anymore.
“The people who occupied our houses illegally should vacate,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Pheliswa Nogqala, said if their concerns were not resolved they would take further action.
Ms Nogqala said she wanted to know how her house could be allocated to someone else while she had been waiting for years.
She said all the stakeholders involved should take the blame and must take effective action to fix this mess.
She claimed the project manager told her that she was going to be given a house in a development close to Kuils River but Ms Nogqala said she could not accept that the letter states that she was among the group of people that must be allocated houses in this project.
Ntomboxolo Makoba Somdaka, spokeperson for MEC of Human Settlements, Bonginkosi Madizikela, said there were 32 potential beneficiaries who were affected by the over subscription and the department has been approached by the City of Cape Town to assist the affected beneficiaries in another housing project.