Outcry over Etete RDP house allocation

Frustrated Etete residents are being assured that the recipient’s list for the Etete RDP housing project will be available for public scrutiny before the end of this week.

A committee member who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of victimization denied that there were residents who had been wrongfully allocated.

He confirmed that in a meeting held between the committee and KwaDukuza municipality (KDM) it was agreed that a list would be displayed at the community hall so that residents will be able to trace the progress of their houses.

“This will help us because some residents do not trust the committee, so if the list is displayed they will know how far are they are on the list and hopefully there will be no complaints going forward,” he said, the committee has been accused of not managing the housing allocation process correctly.

KwaDukuza spokesperson Sipho Mkhize said the municipality was aware of the problem.

He said the Etete community, in a public meeting, had requested that the Human Settlements process of allocation not be followed as the area dynamics are not the same as other projects.

The community requested that they form an allocation committee to represent 9 areas in Etete and the members of the allocation committee were selected at a public meeting.

“The municipality has since had numerous complaints from the community, hence the municipality and committee had a meeting last week to review the terms and conditions of the elected allocation committee in Etete,” said Mkhize.

He said there were about 1 480 houses still to be built. This number may change due to land invasion on the area of development, Transnet servitude, graves and other obstructions that will be identified on-site. 

“So far there are 177 completed and handed over houses and 40 are at different level of construction.”

The first 80 houses were completed and handed over in December 2018 after a six year hold up that resulted in numerous violent protests.