Brendan Village residents demand that the conveyancer who is managing and collecting the rental stock money be terminated with immediate effect.
This was raised during the residents’ march on Friday, April 29 at the Govan Mbeki municipal chamber when the memorandum was presented.
Some demanded that the council revoke a resolution about Brendan Village adopted on April 13 without consulting the residents
In that council meeting, the council adopted the item presented by the mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma which gives powers to Mpumalanga Human Settlements Department to appoint a company to manage Brendan Village.
This company must take whatever rent is received and pay it into an investment account until their matter with the Govan Mbeki Housing Company (GMHC) is resolved.
Zuma said the money that is received will then be deposited into the municipality’s account.
He said the municipality does not want to take over the Brendan Village operation yet because they first want to resolve issues with the GMHC that is managing the municipal rental stock.
“We cannot take that rental stock and give it to GMHC. That’s why we requested the department to continue managing the place on our behalf until we put our house in order.
“The municipality cannot add to our problem of running after GMHC for rental money.
“We asked the department to appoint a company to manage the property on our behalf.”
Zuma said there are two types of people residing in Brendan: those who are paying rent and those who are not.
“These are the matters to be addressed by the conveyancer,” said Zuma.
When handing over their memorandum, residents said they will not cooperate with the law firm that is currently managing the property until the municipality appoints a local company.
“When we occupied the houses, everything was messed up and it became home to criminals and addicts. If we didn’t help the municipality then, the place would have been vandalised.
“Now we heard that the municipality is going to evict us and that it was adopted by its council.
“For whom then did the department buy the land?,” asked Sifiso Zulu, one of the residents.
Residents also demanded that Integrated Development Plan consultation meetings also be conducted in Brendan Village.
Their memorandum was received by Thandi Ngxonono, MMC for planning and development.
She was accompanied by the acting municipal manager, Lizzy Tshabalala because the mayor was unavailable.
After the memorandum was read, Ngxonono explained to the residents about the human settlement policies to be followed for anyone to have an RDP house or stand to build a house.
Ngxonono took the memorandum and promised to give it to the mayor.
They gave the municipality seven working days to respond to their demands.
