A multimillion-rand housing project in Centane which offered more than 1,000 families a chance to own decent houses is now lying in ruins.
Some of these houses in the middle of Centane town are illegally occupied and allegations are that criminals have used them as hideouts.
According to a document from the provincial department of human settlements, the total budget for the project, dubbed Centani 1038, was more than R86m.
The houses, built with VIP toilets, were completed in 2012, but the beneficiaries claim they were never handed over to their rightful owners.
Some of the beneficiaries have long passed on without having received keys to their houses and more than half of the houses are occupied illegally by people who have no claim to them.
These criminals even rob shops in town and run and hide in these unoccupied houses. Even those that are occupied are of poor quality, have huge cracks and the ceilings are falling off
One of the beneficiaries, Mvuseleli Tonisi said he had decided to move into his allocated RDP house in 2013 after seeing that other people’s houses had been illegally occupied.
“Some of these houses are used as drug dens and hideouts,” he said.
“These criminals even rob shops in town and run and hide in these unoccupied houses.
“Even those that are occupied are of poor quality, have huge cracks and the ceilings are falling off.”
The Dispatch discovered that several houses were unoccupied and had been vandalised, with doors, windows, kitchen sinks and even electricity meter boxes stolen.
Some had been converted into spaza shops.
The Sanco chair in the area, Mboneli Gidi, said the project was one of the earliest undertaken in Mnquma.
Gidi said other beneficiaries had told them they had been given the impression that the houses would be built in their villages of birth.
We want title deeds because some people [illegal occupiers] are spending huge sums of money fixing and repairing the vacant, vandalised houses
“We want title deeds because some people [illegal occupiers] are spending huge sums of money fixing and repairing the vacant, vandalised houses.
“Now we fear that if the rightful owner shows up and is unable to pay back the money spent on repairs, they might end up losing their houses completely to these people.”
He said the project amounted to a huge waste of taxpayers’ money.
Provincial human settlements spokesperson Yanga Funani dismissed the claims, saying all 1,038 houses had been handed over to the beneficiaries and the Mnquma municipality after they had been completed.
He said initially the project had been for 863 houses, but the municipality had requested that the number of beneficiaries be increased.
“Site layout and pegging was done by the municipality and the department of human settlements appointed Motheo Construction and Saunders&Wiem Consulting to implement the project,” he said.
Mnquma municipal spokesperson Loyiso Mpalantshane confirmed the houses had been handed over officially to the beneficiaries, but said title deeds would be provided only once they were available as that was an ongoing process.
Mpalantshane said the department undertook the verification process on who qualified or not.
However, where the rightful owner had died, the next of kin would be required to provide documented proof of relationship with the deceased.
He said a committee comprising municipal representatives, provincial community safety and liaison and human settlements had been set up to look into vandalism, crime and the illegal occupation of the houses.
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