A SENIOR Western Cape government official has been suspended after a forensic audit found sacked Cape metro mayor Peter Marais’s son is unlawfully occupying a low-cost government house in Cape Town. Grant Marais is one of 135 tenants unlawfully living in housing built for poor whites in Parow Park, northern Cape Town, in the mid-1970s. A housing department official has been suspended and faces disciplinary and criminal proceedings in connection with Marais’s occupation of the house. At least one other senior official faces similar action. Steps are under way to evict the offenders. Residents pay monthly rent of between R145 and R400. To qualify they must earn less than R1500 a month – although this may soon be adjusted to R3500 – be married and live with their children. The audit shows that Grant Marais, who has lived in the house since late 1999, was not placed on a waiting list. He was allocated a flat although he declared his gross earnings as R4 000 – well above the income limit. – Marianne Merten