Gauteng Department of Human Settlements MEC Ntombi Mekgwe has condemned the burning of councillor’s house in Soshanguve, North of Tshwane. A group of individuals torched the councillor’s after they refused to vacate RDP houses they had invaded and occupied illegally.
MEC Mekgwe said it is unfortunate that in this day and age people still resort to this acts of burning houses in order to raise their frustrations. “This trend of burning buildings is not going to help the situation. We can’t allow lawlessness to take over our lives. What they did is barbaric and we are not going to give in to people who use hooliganism to raise their grievances when they are even in the wrong,” said Mekgwe.
Mekgwe said these people have occupied the state houses illegally and they need to move out with immediate effect. “We cannot allocate people houses because they resort to acts of violence. Those houses still belong to government and no one will be allocated houses unless they qualify. We have always maintained that there are processes that people need to follow when they want to raise issues. Burning houses does not serve any purpose,” said Mekgwe.
Mekgwe said they will only give houses to the rightful beneficiaries and they are not going to compromise. “They should stop wasting their energy because in the end they will move out of those houses. We will stop at nothing until these people are out of those houses. We can’t allow them to dictate on who should get houses. We have already identified beneficiaries and I promise that they will get their houses. No one is going to jump a queue,” said MEC Mekgwe.
She said the law should take its course and arrest those who burned the house of the councillor and destroyed a house belonging to the Community Liaison Officer for this housing project. “We need to set an example by making sure that these hooligans face the full might of the law. We cannot continue to see people burning public properties and houses and getting away with murder,” said Mekgwe.
