LETTER: Coloured people are being ignored when it comes to housing

Rev Christopher Barends, Reiger Park, writes:

Your recently published article about the alleged corruption in the allocation of units in the Leeuwpoort housing project is very good, and I thank you for highlighting this housing crisis and corrupt behaviour.

The context is that, for decades, while many other communities in the townships of Ekurhuleni received RDP or low-cost houses, coloured people and other needy residents have been waiting for homes since 1995.

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Reiger Park residents have faced discrimination for years. Only a fraction of its people have been allocated those flats.

All those flats were supposed to be handed to the residents of Reiger Park and Joe Slovo Park, as per the initial agreement in 2006 by the metro when they identified the land for housing opposite the Cinderella Dam.

If many persons from outside Boksburg have been allocated flats, the metro must investigate and remove those individuals.

It is very unfair that Reiger Park residents, who have been waiting 30 years for low-cost homes, are being treated in such an inhumane manner.

Myself and others have worked tirelessly over the years to inform and engage the council about the housing shortage in Reiger Park since the 1990s.

It is heartbreaking to see how many needy residents are still waiting for decent homes.

The discrimination against coloured people must stop. They suffered the same as black people under apartheid.

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