By Akani Nkuna
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says the provincial government is moving to tighten controls over RDP housing allocations through digital systems aimed at detecting fraud, illegal occupation, and the resale or rental of state-subsidised homes.
Lesufi told the Gauteng Legislature in Johannesburg on Tuesday that the Department of Human Settlements was working to introduce an electronic system that would allow officials to audit housing allocations more regularly and in real time.
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“The department is working towards an electronic system that will allow you to have an instant audit rather than run an audit quarterly, yearly, or after three years, to try to achieve the intended goals,” he said.
“The reality is that if we can register all our beneficiaries through an e-registration process, if there is a change of ownership, that information can be immediately available and makes auditing simple [by] making this information available on the dashboard instantly, rather than waiting for a year-long investigation, because while we are doing the physical count, changes are happening where you have already [counted].”
Lesufi was responding to oral questions in the legislature, where he accounted for service delivery issues across provincial departments and outlined the government’s push to digitise key functions.
He said digitalisation would improve real-time accountability in the allocation of houses, particularly as the province faces a surge in illegal occupation of state-subsidised homes by people who do not qualify for them.
In some cases, Lesufi said, beneficiaries who had been allocated houses were renting them out for financial gain while continuing to live in informal settlements — undermining the purpose of the housing programme.
He warned that the hijacking or unlawful occupation of RDP houses was a criminal offence, and said those found to have abused the system could face legal action and risk losing their units.
“In such cases, the registered beneficiaries have been contacted and instructed to occupy their allocated houses, or they will leave us no choice but to reallocate their units to those that are on the waiting list, especially when a title deed has not yet been issued,” Lesufi added.
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Lesufi also said “deliberate vandalism” of public infrastructure remained one of the biggest obstacles facing the provincial government in its efforts to improve service delivery.
He said the province remained committed to efforts to reinstitute and reinstate the service delivery model implemented ahead of major events, including the G20 and LIV Golf, to ensure services were maintained at a higher standard.
However, he said the scale of vandalism was severely undermining those efforts.
“Unfortunately, we are dealing with the highest level of vandalism and trust deficit. There are people, deliberately, as part of their efforts to discredit government, who are vandalising our infrastructure at a rate that is very disturbing.”
He said the attacks were not limited to traffic lights and cable theft, but also contributed to a breakdown of trust between residents and government by causing service disruptions and weakening public confidence in the state’s capacity to deliver.
Lesufi said the provincial government had established a war room with law enforcement agencies to protect targeted public infrastructure across Gauteng.
“We will continue to work on this and the municipalities have committed to collaborate with us, so that we can provide the necessary support that is needed. But we share your sentiments that after G20, [service delivery has regressed], and these are the challenges that we need to attend,” Lesufi added.
