The city council has launched a campaign for regions E, A and F to verify applications for housing subsidies submitted in 1996 and 1997.
Alexandra is in Region E and the campaign will commence in February and ends in May. The campaign comes amid ongoing complaints by residents who claim to have been overlooked in the allocation of government houses, while foreign and undocumented nationals have been allocated housing.
The campaign also comes after several unsuccessful attempts by some residents to occupy flats in Bohlabela Extension 2.
Addressing residents at Sankopano Community Centre, Dan Bovu, MMC for Housing said the campaign sought to verify the applications to ensure fairness, transparency and accountability in the housing allocation.
“Residents have on numerous occasions expressed concern that people not on the waiting list have received government houses through dubious means. The campaign will eliminate this fraudulent activity,” he said.
Director of Housing, Thulani Nkosi said the verification process would be conducted through locally recruited field workers using special hand held scanners. “The captured information will be transmitted to a central database for strict vetting to ensure accuracy,” said Nkosi. “The field workers will visit all households to verify the information through copies of applicants’ C Forms and housing permits. Consideration will be made for those who may have applied before 1996.”
Nkosi said the elderly would be prioritised in the waiting list. He raised concerns of residents when he stated that any descendant of a deceased applicant would not automatically inherit the descendant’s application.
Bovu requested residents to co-operate with the field workers to ensure the success of the exercise.
