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In a no-holds barred announcement, City of Johannesburg Mayor Mashaba has instructed the City Manager to begin an audit into the state of the City’s social housing and RDP accommodation.
Making the announcement in a statement, he said the audit would look into persons living in the City’s social housing and RDP accommodation unlawfully.
He said this instruction comes after receiving various complaints from residents about some properties are currently housing unlawful occupiers, including undocumented persons, who are not permitted to occupy those properties by law.
The audit would provide a departure point for verifying the claims, it is only after the audit has been completed that the City would consider interventions to remedy the challenge.
“JOSCHO’s provision of housing is one of the pivotal interventions for providing residents with the dignity of a roof over their heads with over 3000 units at their disposal. The same goes for the provision of RDP housing. This is why we cannot allow lawlessness to undermine our efforts to provide proper housing,” Mashaba said.
The administration faces a housing crisis, one where approximately 300 000 units are required urgently to make inroads against the housing backlog dating as far back as 1994. However, it reveals the mammoth task ahead as Johannebsurg absorbs an urban migration of 3000 people on a monthly basis.
The Mayor noted that, “Should the claims prove substantially true, we need to understand, not only how this happened, but hold those responsible to account.”
The deadline for the final report on the audit is the end of October 2018.
