Cape Town - Alleged gangsters peddling and using drugs have illegally occupied City-owned rental units in several areas across the Cape Flats, according to a report.
At least 35 of the City of Cape Town’s rental units have been identified in the report as being occupied by alleged gangsters in Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, Uitsig, Atlantis and Elsies River.
The report, dated June 2022, did not indicate how long the City had faced the illegal occupation of its rental stock but said over 1 000 cases of illegal occupation were being reviewed.
Of these units, about 222 were being considered to be returned to the occupants in a legal way if they meet the City’s criteria which gives preference to those with health issues or child-headed households.
The City would not divulge how much rental income it had lost but said it was in the process of establishing the amounts.
“The unlawful occupation of public rental units is one of the biggest challenges facing the City as landlord,” read the report, adding that as the number of illegal occupants grew, more revenue to the City was being lost.
A task team was set up in March to operate for four months, looking for ways to address the problem.
Some of the cases identified were either referred for legal opinion or occupants were served with notices and/or an eviction order.
The report appeared to confirm growing concerns over allegations that criminal syndicates were illegally occupying rental units across the city or “rented them out” to desperate people.
While the City said it followed stringent vetting processes when allocating rental units, it relied on the public to alert it to illegal occupations.
According to the report, the City did not have the capacity to monitor 24/7 and check on the movements in its rental stock of approximately 40 000 units.
Mayco member for human settlements, Malusi Booi, said the complaints or tip-offs were investigated by law enforcement agencies and “appropriate action”, where required, was taken.
The complaints included the illegal “sale and use of drugs”.
“The City takes allegations of drug dealing in its rental stock seriously and always follows the legal processes to evict any person who occupies a rental unit,” said Booi.
Unlawful tenants were identified as those who moved into a vacant unit without authorisation, forced an existing tenant or moved into a unit left behind by a vacating or dead tenant.
Rental for City-owned flats ranges between R350 and R1 200 per month, depending on the size of the unit and the tenant's affordability.
Non-profit housing agency Communicare has also dealt with a similar problem in recent times.
“In May, for example, building hijackers were evicted from a Brooklyn property by the high court after 15 months of illegal occupation,” said Communicare chief operations officer Makhosi Kubheka.
Kubheka said criminal syndicates had found ways to “exploit the laws and the courts” to hijack buildings while exploiting poor people who were desperate to do anything for decent housing.
There is an estimated 400 000 housing backlog in the city and the delivery rate has been widely criticised as insufficient.
“In many instances, criminal syndicates act either blatantly or pose as tenant rights activists to exploit the situation and use the struggles of poor people to hijack buildings and then extort rent from people. Some tenants believe that they are entitled to own their houses or apartments after two or three years of leasing from social housing institutions,” Kubheka said.
She said that illegal occupations had a severe financial impact on Communicare as they depended on the rental income to maintain the properties, service debt and invest in new affordable housing developments.
In March, a 29-year-old tenant who illegally occupied an apartment in Drommedaris, Brooklyn, for more than a year was evicted. He left behind a debt of over R100 000 in rental arrears.
A legal expert on evictions, Marlon Shevelew, from Marlon Shevelew and Associates, said evictions were still in force but there was a delay in court cases due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“During the pandemic, courts could hear a certain number of cases, which meant that there were less matters on the court roll. With the lifting of the disaster regulations, more cases were heard but there was already a backlog,” said Shevelew.
Weekend Argus