Cape Town - Free housing beneficiaries continue to sell their houses illegally and without involving authorities.
The Breaking New Ground (BNG) homes, formerly known as RDP homes are being sold across the Western Cape by beneficiaries, and MEC of Infrastructure Tertius Simmers recently had to serve an eviction notice on one of the buyers.
According to legislation, a recipient of a BNG house must keep the house for at least eight years before it can be sold.
If it is sold after eight years, it is an acceptable free-market transaction.
During the first eight years, permission to sell must be requested from the Department of Human Settlements.
Permission may be granted based on the reasons for selling.
In the event that a person wants to sell, the house should be offered to the provincial department first.
“It has come to the department’s attention that approved beneficiaries regrettably sell their homes, often illegally,” confirmed spokesperson for Simmers, Ntobeko Mbingeleli.
“These only pertain to BNG homes.
“Social housing projects are rental-only developments and are not included in the challenge of illegal selling,” she said.
The Weekend Argus tracked down Nowethu Siswana, who relocated to the Eastern Cape. She sold her house in 2018.
“I was happy when I received the house, but due to unemployment I had to let it go,” she said.
Siswana said she took her three children with her and relocated to the province where she felt the cost of living was not that expensive.
“I renovated my parent’s house and started gardening because there is land here.
“We have a farm and can survive unlike when I was in Cape Town where I was really struggling,” she said.
Mbingeleli said the department was often not made aware of these sales, since they occur unlawfully and/or without the department’s knowledge.
“BNG homes are allocated to the most vulnerable in our communities, and therefore the department endeavours to prioritise these allocations to, for example, the elderly, disabled, and those longest on the waiting list.
‘Specific reasons for beneficiaries are not known to the department at present,” Mbingeleli said.
Mbingeleli said if a beneficiary has benefited from any government housing subsidy or programme, they would not qualify to go back on to the housing database or to receive a government housing opportunity again.
Yusrah Bardien from activist group Ndifuna Ukwazi said the buying and selling of BNG houses has to be understood in a broader context.
“There is an estimated title deed backlog of 900 000 nationally and over 63 000 in the Western Cape.
“Transactions of a subsidised house is endemic to the vast unemployment and desperation of households.
“CSOs that have done previous surveys on transactions on government subsidised houses have demonstrated that a large percentage of people sell their homes in desperation for as low as half the subsidy price,” he said.
Bardien said that given the costs of maintaining a home in urban areas, without sufficient investment in the local economy, this practice of buying/selling would continue.
“Applying punitive measures will push this further into informal and underground practices which will only encourage further exploitation.
“Second, RDP houses are often provided on greenfield sites in far-flung areas of the city that do not have good access to jobs, health care, schools and other essential amenities.
“Therefore, some families are faced with the difficult choice of selling informally or staying trapped in these peripheral locations for years.
“Third, the title deed backlog must be addressed rapidly.
‘Fourth, without a proper educational programme on the importance of title deeds, people will continue to transact,” Bardien said.
Activist Axolile Notywala said until the living conditions of people improved, desperation would lead people to sell their houses.
“These are the effects of a segregated city, hence it is important, the work that is done by organisations such as Ndifuna Ukwazi and Reclaim the City, wanting for the government to build houses closer to where there are economic opportunities.
“In Cape Town, there has never been social housing built in the city centre and that says something about the current situation,” Notywala said.