Gauteng Department of Human Settlements has failed to pay Villa Liza land owner

Yesterday, the DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Human Settlements, Mervyn Cirota MPL, as well as the DA Boksburg East Constituency Head, Janet Semple MPL and the DA Ward 45 PR Councillor, Lebo Makhathini conducted an oversight visit to provincially built RDP houses and private land in Villa Liza Extension 1-4 in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.

The owner of the land on which RDPs have been built in Villa Liza Extension 1-4 claims that the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements has failed to pay for the land as per the sales agreement.

Despite the fact that a court order was granted in favour of the land owner to stop the department from building RDP houses, the department continued to build on the land.

The land owner developed more than 2000 stands, which are serviced with all the infrastructure which includes tarred roads, water and electricity.

The photos of these houses can be viewed hereherehere and here.

Gauteng Department of Human Settlements MEC, Paul Mashitile and Ekurhuleni Mayor, Mzwandile Masina are boasting about the success of the new housing developments in Villa Liza, despite the fact that they have stolen this land.

Last year residents were protesting over corruption regarding housing allocations that resulted in these houses being vandalized by angry residents.

Unfortunately, people who have been allocated at these houses will not have a security of tenure as the land is still privately owned.

The DA will continue investigating this issue and engaging both MEC Mashatile and Mayor Masina to ensure that they resolve the dispute between the department and the owner of the land.

We will also be tabling questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to ascertain the following:

  • What was the initial agreement or contract between the owner of the land and the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements?
  • For how much was the land sold to the department?
  • What were the payments arrangements?
  • Why did the department fail to honour the agreement?
  • Why has the department not adhered to the terms of the court order stopping the building of new houses?
  • What actions is the department going to take to solve this dispute with the owner of the land?
  • Who are those people that benefited from these RDP houses?
  • Were these beneficiaries on the waiting list?