Dispute over RDP Housing Project in Kutupu
Kutupu
Residents of Kutupu Village in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) Ward 1 are disgruntling about the RDP Housing Project which is currently underway in the village.
According to the community, the project is running without any Community Liaison Officer (CLO) and Project Steering Committee (PSC).
Residents claim MLM Ward 1 Councilor Martha Vilakazi, together with her Ward Committee members, is the ones running the CLO and PSC duties in the project.
The project started earlier this month to benefit 30 deserving households in Kutupu Village.
Ditabeng Chuenyana, a community leader and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Chairperson in MLM Ward 1, said they were not given clear answers when they asked why the project operating without a CLO and PSC structure.
“The ward councilor only told us that RDP projects do not operate with CLO and PSC at all. She said this is according to the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta),” he said.
Chuenyana added that not only the appointment of CLO and PSC is worrisome to residents, however, they are also concerned about a level of corruption within the project, which includes sub-construction jobs that were given to ward committee members and exploitation of workers.
“We discovered that ward committee members are the ones hired as sub-contractors who were secretly appointed to deliver sand and other building material at the construction site. Workers are also underpaid working for a mere R1400-00 to complete the whole RDP housing unit. It is unfair, the majority here is living below the poverty line, the money is too little compared to the hard work they are doing,” he said.
When contacted for a comment, MLM Ward 1 Councilor, Martha Vilakazi, confirmed that the housing project does not have CLO and PSC.
However, according to Coghsta guidelines, RDP housing projects should operate with CLOs.
“The project is controlled by myself and my ward committee members. You can go all over the country you will never find any CLO or PSC in the RDP housing project,” she insisted.
