Mmako, a former ANC Youth League leader in the ward, said the housing issues in 9 and 10 which fall within the ward, were being handled by Housing MMC Dan Bovu and an amicable solution would soon be found.
“I am appealing to everybody involved in the debacle to exercise restraint and be patient while the MMC tries to find a lasting
solution to the problem,” Mmako said.
The housing problems of there arose from the allocation made by the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) back in 2010 soon after the completion of the K206 Settlement, which has become known as Ext 9 and Ext 10 of the Far Eastbank.
The then-ARP, which has since been incorporated into the Johannesburg Development Agency, devised a landlord and tenant system by allocating the RDP duplexes to some families and the adjoining ground floor rooms to other families.
The ARP then ordered the ground floor dwellers to pay a rent of R350 to the duplex owners, creating a landlord-tenant system. The tenants paid the rental for a few months but then reneged, saying they do not see the why they should pay rent to other people for an RDP structure.
The agreement was that after five years, the ground floor dwellers would be relocated to new housing developments. Since the five-year contract has expired, the landlords want the tenants out so they can lease the rooms to those willing to pay the rent, as a source of income for themselves.
The tenants will not budge and are demanding that they be given those backrooms as RDP houses for themselves.
“It was foolhardy of the ARP to create a feudalistic system in the first place and I would like to call on the MMC to overturn this by finding an amicable solution for both parties,” said Mmako.
“What happened in Ext 9 and Ext 10 is like setting up those people against each other. We cannot allow something like that to happen — a situation which is becoming a fertile ground for possible confrontation and conflict among our people.”
Mmako said the allocation bungle must be treated as a learning curve.
“Landlords have no right to demand rentals for RDP houses and no one must be made to pay rent for a free structure which is part of a government handout.”
Details: Bongi Mmako 076 890 4255.
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