Battle over RDP houses

Questions have arisen over the administration of the RDP housing scheme in KwaDukuza.

Tensions have flared in Etete township after a resident has been asked to move out of an RDP house after 10 years of occupancy.

Doris Jali has been living in the house for 10 years knowing that it belongs to someone else but that ‘someone’ never arrived.

In 2004 she was asked by the late ward seven counsellor David Khumbuso to move in to prevent it from being vandalised.

“I am not the only one who is staying in a house that does not belong to them. I do not refuse to move out but I want us to discuss the matter because I have been staying in this house for ten years,” said Jali.

In April Balahlile Gazu (62) visited KwaDukuza municipality and discovered that she owns an RDP house in Tete.

“I applied for the house many years ago however I was not informed whether my application was successful or not,” said Gazu.

When she went to check the house she was surprised to find Jali living there.

She gave Jali 30 days notice. She said she decided to get a letter from the court but that Jali refused to sign it.

Last Monday Gazu spent the whole night outside the house with her two grand-children, aged seven and six.

She was previously renting a house in Tete (Ireland section).

“I have been renting all these years not knowing that I have a house. I cannot continue doing that now I have found my house,” said Gazu

During the ten years, Jali’s employer Shelley Birnie extended the house from two to four rooms.

Birnie extended the house because it was to small for Jali’s family.

“I went to the municipality and could not get any help. I just wanted the name and contact number of the house owner,” said Birnie.

Current counsellor Njabulo Mbonambi agreed that Jali is not the only one who was asked to live in the houses temporally.

“When people were allocated houses, they were told that if the owner comes, they will be asked to move out but they would be given 30 days notice,” said Mbonambi.

Jali intends to take the matter into court.KwaDukuza municipality had not responded to the Courier’s questions at the time of going to print.