Housing Department wants to help

JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – Dikeledi Mashile, from the City of Johannesburg’s Housing Department, acknowledges that Anastacia Smart’s case is unique considering her husband’s medical condition and her three sons.

Dikeledi informed the COURIER that she would appreciate if Anastacia could go to their Braamfontein office to discuss the 1996/97 campaign which was approved by the Council to trace people who applied during that period and to address the backlog.

“The campaign started in 2014 in Region D, as a pilot, and it then continued into this year. We covered all the regions, and public meetings were called where all the councillors of the City of Johannesburg were also present. The objective of the campaign and the processes were presented at these public meetings by the MMC and the Housing Department’s staff. Every ward was represented and representatives from wards were hired to do door to door visits, in order to identify the beneficiaries of 1996/97,” said Dikeledi. The official campaign is tentatively planned to launch on Sunday, November 15, and Dikeledi has invited Anastacia to attend.

“The department will also follow up on the illegal invasion of the flats in Bellavista and would appreciate if Clr Landis and Anastacia could forward us the information of the invaded units. Regarding JOSHCO, if Anastacia applied for a unit and experienced any challenges, the department is willing to make a follow up on this matter too. We would also like to apologise for any impasse caused by the department to the Smart family.”