SHARPEVILLE. – The DA Emfuleni West constituency conducted an oversight visit in Tshepiso Phase 3 and Phase 4 last week.

Led by Tumelo Ramongalo, Member of Parliament (MP) and DA Political Head of Emfuleni West Constituency, the delegation found that the community is experiencing serious challenges, which were worsened by alleged fraud in housing allocations.

According to Ramongalo, the residents are now forced to live in dirt and filth because of service delivery challenges that threaten their health and overall well-being.

He added that the community was temporarily moved to different informal settlements around Tshepiso under the false promise that they would be allocated houses in Phase 4 and Phase 5 once the building project was finalised.

“Some of the people have approval letters that confirms they are the rightful owners of those houses. It is now more than five years and no housing allocation has been done. The residents are now being told that the area where they were temporarily placed was never approved for dwelling purposes, which begs the question, why did they displace people in the first place to an area that did not meet housing regulation requirements?” Ramongalo asked.

The alleged fraud and alleged illegal selling of those RDP houses is said to have systematically left the rightful owners of houses at a disadvantage, because the houses which were supposed to be allocated to them were allegedly sold to individuals who did not meet the regulated housing criteria.

“We also found that a local business owner has purchased a portion of the land in Phase 3 and is now asking people to vacate because he wants to start his building project for business purposes. This further intensifies the situation because people are going to be left homeless with nowhere to go, yet again,” Ramongalo added.

During the visit, the community took the delegation to a vacant land in Tshepiso Phase 5 that has been identified for building RDP houses. It is recommended that residents are placed there once the houses have been built and also that they are removed from the current location and be placed in another vacant land nearby while they wait for proper housing allocations.

The areas the DA delegation visited are currently facing challenges of no electricity, no proper water and sanitation, and the roads also became flooded with water during the rainy season, which makes it impossible for residents and motor vehicles to move around.

“Emergency services like ambulances and police vehicles are unable to get into the area once the roads are flooded, leaving people in need of serious emergency assistance stranded. The living conditions have reached levels that are beyond dire, with zero service to the mobile toilets for months. There is one toilet, which is shared amongst five family stands, but the municipality has failed to collect and clean up the waste. The area now has an unbearable stench because the toilets are filled up to the top with human waste.”

The DA seeks urgent intervention to address the issue of housing allocation and service delivery to the residents of Tshepiso Phase 3 and Phase 4.

“The culture of ineffective governance by Emfuleni Municipality highlights the critical necessity for a concerted effort to restore dignity and promote social justice for these communities. We will continue to amplify their voices until urgent action is taken to address their grievances.”