The Democratic Alliance on Friday warned that the ”unfair” allocation of houses to locals and foreigners could exacerbate the situation in Olivienhoutbosch south of Pretoria.
Violent clashes broke out between South Africans and foreign nationals from Mozambique and Zimbabwe at the informal settlement on Wednesday after a South African was killed, allegedly by a Zimbabwean.
Two people were killed and several others severely injured.
”According to an answer to a question submitted by Councillor Clive Napier to the mayor on June 2, 2005, there is one waiting list for low cost housing that the MEC may deviate from on application,” the party said.
Napier said the ranking of individuals on the waiting list was done electronically.
”No mention is made as to whether deviations have been made and whether the list is open for public scrutiny and how foreign applicants are accommodated”.
The DA said the housing list should be made accessible for public scrutiny and that the criteria for the allocation of housing to foreign nationals be re-evaluated.
The Gauteng housing department’s spokesperson, Mongezi Mnyani, dismissed the DA’s statement as just ”political”.
”How can we allocate [low cost] houses to foreigners? They do not qualify for low cost houses. Our anti-corruption unit also found that the issue in Olivienhoutbosch is not housing but factions within the community.”
He said the department was not going to make the housing list public.
”We are not going to make that list public because everybody who has applied for a house has access to it in terms of his or her status and where he or she stands in the list.” – Sapa