Gauteng housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane lashed out at the illegal occupation of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses in violence-ridden Diepsloot on Thursday.
Residents of the part informal settlement, part housing estate, north-west of Johannesburg, have been protesting this week against their rumoured removal from Diepsloot to Brits, north of Pretoria, on July 14.
Mokonyane said on Wednesday there had never been plans to relocate the residents.
She said on Thursday an investigation into the alleged illegal occupation and allocation of RDP houses in the area was underway.
”I wish to stress that the illegal occupation of houses will not be tolerated at all, and we are going to deal with any group or individual that attempts to instigate other people to be involved in illegal and violent activities,” she warned.
”As part of addressing the housing problem in the area, a process of investigating how these houses were occupied, and any other allegations of corruption on housing allocation, is underway and will be accelerated.”
The MEC said in a statement that the city of Johannesburg, as the implementing agency of housing projects in the area, and officials from the housing department, were interacting with ”reliable” local leaders to establish the origin of the false rumour.
”The department of housing has been liaising with people who were relocated to Diepsloot from Alexandra and did not qualify for housing. A special process is already in progress to deal with their problems without being taken out of Diepsloot.”
However, she said the department would not have sympathy for those arrested after being suspected of being involved in acts of criminality.
Mokonyane also said ”future engagement with local structures and credible leaders will happen in order to discuss initiatives that will benefit the community of Diepsloot as a whole not just few individuals who have their own political agendas”. – Sapa
Police won’t be fooled