Despite the provincial department’s continuous efforts to deliver housing projects in the province, many Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing units remain unoccupied and subject to vandalism. The Eastern Cape MEC for Human Settlements, Helen Sauls-August is calling for approved beneficiaries to claim their houses by contacting municipalities where their initially made their applications.
The Human Settlements provincial department has learnt that some municipalities are struggling to trace beneficiaries whose houses have been completed. According to Statistics South Africa, migration patterns for Eastern Cape illustrated increased out-migration figures between 2001 and 2011, placing this province in the top three provinces to experience the highest out-migration patterns in the country, within that period. It is believed that some of the beneficiaries may have moved on to other provinces in search for employment, leaving many completed houses unoccupied, exposed to vandalism acts and further, delaying the issuing of title deeds to beneficiaries across the province.
With an estimated housing backlog of 600 000, the department has given a go ahead for the municipalities to start a de-registration process of beneficiaries, so that other qualifying beneficiaries could be allocated to the unoccupied houses. Municipalities have been tasked to follow this de-registration process accordingly and not allocate empty houses without following the due processes. The law allows for the tracing of beneficiaries before de-registration can be effected and beneficiaries to be allocated to empty houses.
Eastern Cape MEC for Human Settlements, Ms Helen Sauls-August has therefore made a call for communities to also protect and report criminal activities such vandalism of the completed units.
Enquiries:
Lwandile Sicwetsha
Tel:043 711 9679
E-mail: lwandiles@ecdhs.gov.za
