Illegal RDP sales being probed
2008-02-18 17:29
Polokwane - Some government teachers, nurses and police officers in Limpopo are applying illegally for RDP houses because they are in too much debt to get housing loans.
A spokesperson for Limpopo's Department of Local Government and Housing, Malusi Mohale, said on Monday that it was not yet clear how many civil servants had received RDP houses illegally.
Mohale said: "We know for a fact that the problem is huge and that is why we have appointed a private service provider to investigate the matter for us."
"We expect to get the preliminary results soon."
Only people in households that earn a total income of less than R1 300 a month qualify for state-subsidised RDP housing.
Local government and housing MEC Maite Nkoane-Mashabane said on Monday the property market was widening the gap between higher-, middle- and lower-income groups.
She said poorer people could not afford to live in towns and cities.
"Most of the housing for the poor is developed on the periphery of townships, away from the city centres," she said.
An integrated human settlements plan
She said the government's plan for "integrated human settlements" would make it affordable for anyone to live near urban centres.
"We are committed to ensuring that we break the market barriers that have led to many... not having access to housing in towns.
"This we will do by going into partnership with municipalities, banks and other financial institutions and private developers," she said.
She said her department was working closely with municipalities to identify strategically located land for integrated human settlements.
Progress thus far
Meanwhile, in his State of the Province address last Thursday, Premier Sello Moloto noted that formal dwellings had increased from 72% in 2001 to 83.2% in 2007, while informal dwellings like shacks had decreased from 7.1% in 2002 to 5.5% in 2007.
"Traditional dwellings have also decreased from 20.2% in 2001 to 9% in 2007," Moloto said.
He said the percentage of households using electricity for lighting rose from 62.9% in 2001 to 81% in 2007, while the percentage of households who had access to piped water increased from 78.1% in 2001 to 83.6% in 2007.
"This is the kind of progress we need in order to move closer to meeting the targets we have set for ourselves," he said.