A probe has been ordered into alleged corruption over the allocation and selling of RDP houses on the so-called Buffer Strip adjacent to Sibongile.
Council resolved at Thursday’s special Council meeting that the Department of Human Settlements go ahead with a forensic investigation.
Speaker Mdluli said this follows from a recent meeting between the Civic Association, municipal officials and representatives from the Human Settlements Department.
“The allegations include the illegal selling of these houses, corruption over allocations and more. We are sure that the investigation will go a long way to right these wrongs.”
Councillor Lungile Mbhele asked that the investigation also include housing allocations in Sithembile.
This was agreed. Councillor Bongiwe Mbatha said she ‘thanked those responsible for exposing this saga and said it is embarrassing for the municipality.’ She requested that the Human Settlement Department put a time frame to their probe but Speaker Mdluli cautioned against this saying that ‘we should rather let them do a full investigation rather than a rushed job’.
Mayor Thulani Mahaye said the investigation was all ‘part of the municipality striving for good governance’.
He proposed the resolution and was seconded by Councillor Anton Raubenheimer.
Mzwakhe Sithebe of the Civic Association who exposed ‘Housing Gate’ in a recent Courier welcomed the probe saying that the poor people who have waited for years for decent housing would at last find justice.