Opposition parties have slammed the North West Department of Public Works and Roads for failing to act against civil servants, who have been living rent free in properties owned by the province.
Public Works MEC Oageng Molapisi, said a law firm was appointed to recoup more than R70 million of the outstanding amount accumulated over 20 years but opposition parties want him to account for his department’s failure to recover the money.
The DA’s deputy leader in the North West, Freddy Sonakile wants Molapisi to account for the department’s failure to recoup the rent and to implement the State Housing Policy.
“The Auditor-General has for years indicated that the department suffers from internal control deficiencies, and a failure to implement its policies confirms this.
The DA will submit written questions to MEC Molapisi on how many officials have been living rent-free, for how long, the total revenue lost, their positions, and who authorised the occupation of these properties. It seems just like ANC politicians live in luxury at taxpayer’s expense, in the North West this has been extended to cadres employed in government.
“This is unacceptable, especially considering that hundreds of thousands of desperate people across the province live in terrible conditions waiting for formalised state housing while battling unemployment, yet salaried government officials think they can live rent-free at taxpayer expense,” Sonakile said.
EFF’s provincial secretary, Papiki Babuile cautioned the ANC political head against using this as an opportunity to evict civil servants only to have the properties occupied by ANC members.
“We fully support the move that anyone who can afford a house, in particular, government employees, must pay for the services rendered including rentals. This will assist the department in renovating those houses and also maintaining them. The department must first make sure that these people are given the necessary warning and that all due processes are followed before they are evicted.
“The alternative that can be taken is to make sure that the tenants sign a lease with the department. Then the department can directly deduct the rental money from their salaries. Removing people from their houses without providing them with alternatives, will be a violation of human rights. The department must make sure that it follows all procedures before evicting them.
“The department can only evict them if they fail to pay back the money owed to it. So, we must also be wary that the department will not evict people only for those houses to be occupied by high-ranking politicians and government officials’ cronies and families. We have seen this tendency, especially during auctions,” said Babuile.
The MEC said the tenant’s failure to pay rent affects their revenue collection negatively.
“The concern that we are raising is that some of these people have signed leases with the Department of Public Works and Roads. But they are not obliging their contractual obligation, meaning they are not paying their rent as expected.
“So what we have done, because this impacts our ability to collect revenue. We are saying to them either you are going to pay whatever is outstanding or we are going to evict you.
“We are in the process of disposing of non-core assets of the government. Now we want to dispose of these houses. And many of the people who are occupying these houses are officials of the government.
“Some of these people are owing us a lot. We are selling a house for R650 000 and the tenant owes us R400 000. So if we allow the process to continue it means she/he will be buying this property at next to nothing. The amount owed is R70 to 71 million, which is why we appointed a law firm to start the process of either evicting or recovering our money,” Molapisi said.
The department has previously indicated that it administers 1 352 properties across the North West, which consist of freestanding houses, apartments, institutional accommodation, and single-quarter residences.
