Hundreds of Gauteng RDP applicants have occupied the Human Settlements regional office in Johannesburg, demanding urgent answers on long-delayed housing allocations.
The aggrieved residents argue that they have applied for housing as far back as 1996, but newer applicants are being prioritized ahead of them.
Inner City Federation general secretary Siya Mahlangu said the occupation demonstrates that the government has failed to uphold people’s housing rights.
“It tells us that the human settlement department… is not doing good when it comes to housing allocations and also to create more houses for those who are in need of those houses,” Mahlangu said.
He said people are occupying the building “because they’ve got nowhere else to go,” adding that “provincially, nationally, locally government have failed to fulfill their right that arises in the constitution of South Africa under section 26.”
Mahlangu accused the government of criminalizing those in need of housing. He claimed that records of RDP allocations would show that people who can afford to house themselves, and who were not legitimate beneficiaries, have received housing ahead of those waiting since 1996.
He called for a revisiting of applications and allocations, saying those who have been on the queue for decades “have been jumped by those who do not qualify.”
Responding to the city’s position that some houses have been hijacked and that legal victories reaffirm its mandate to enforce bylaws, Mahlangu dismissed the statement as “incorrect” and lacking sympathy for victims. He noted that some RDP houses stand empty for long periods, leading genuine beneficiaries to allocate themselves.
“If the city slows down the process and not focusing on what it’s supposed to be doing… they will find themselves in this problem the way they are now,” Mahlangu said.
He pointed to a 2017 proposal by former mayor Mashaba to build car parks in inner-city spaces, arguing it did not solve the housing crisis.
Asked to reconcile the rights of unlawful occupiers with property rights, Mahlangu said: “We should follow the process, but if the people who are supposed to work within the confines of that process are not available… you can’t blame someone who’s exercising his or her constitutional right.”