Abahlali kwaLanga TRA Press Statement
19 January 2013

Residents in Joe Slovo and Langa TRA continue to be sidelined by corruption

We as Abahlali baseMjondolo (ABM) are not satisfied by the way the government treats our communities. The worst part is that those who are richer do not feel ashamed to steal from the poor. We have been crying to our government, but we have been ignored.

The only thing we are fed by these people we are looking up to is lies. In the Langa TRA’s, ever since the Housing Development Agency (HDA) took over, corruption has increased. People have been robbed of their houses. They have been told to sign in order to get their housing but nothing came up. Later they were told the houses they had signed for were not theirs. These families now are stranded. They are being kept by their extended families.

When ABM managed to meet with HDA to address these issues, Mr Khoza denied that he was responsible for telling people who must relocate. He said they are just a project and we must address the matter to Sobambisana. We as ABM know nothing about Sobambisana. All we know is that it is HDA who relocates people. Mr Khoza wanted ABM to join the allocation committee. We not want to become partners in corruption. We want Mr Khoza to fulfill his promise to make a thorough investigation of corruption first. The culprits must be removed. But as yet we have heard nothing about Mr Khoza’s investigation.

We asked Mr Khoza to stop demolishing TRA’s because they are needed. He said HDA jointly agreed this with the province and City of Cape Town. We want Mr Khoza to fulfill his promise to renegotiate this question with the province and City.

ABM believes that HDA is incompetent. It loses applicants’ forms. We want to know why there are still in the TRAs victims of the 2005 fire in Joe Slovo, who were promised priority for housing. There are people who came after the fire who are already in houses. This is a reason we are talking about corruption.

We also know that the City is aware of our problems but is turning a blind eye to them. We would be happy with input from the City. ABM pleads with the government to stop making empty promises. The government talks of fighting corruption, but there are still no changes. We have asked the Human Settlement Department to verify the allocation of houses. We know that without verification, the right people will never get their RDP houses. ABM needs to be included when verification takes place. We will be happy if those who are in houses which do not belong to them are removed immediately.

People are tired of waiting. There is plenty of empty land, even around Khayelitsha. Presently that land is used by criminals, to assault and rape. Houses can be built on empty land by the unemployed, if they are trained and paid by government. Our government must take full responsibility for the people. Government must listen to people, because government is government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Contact: Cindy Ketane, 0760866690
Tumi 0835363604