Public Protector urged to probe RDP houses in North West

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the North West on Thursday wrote to the public protector to probe a low-cost housing project in the Moretele municipality. In the letter addressed to the public protector’s office in Mahikeng, the DA caucus leader Solly Magalefa requested an investigation into the RDP housing project in Cyferskuil.

Community members allege that the allocation of housing beneficiaries is irregular…it is clear that there is no accountability from the municipality in terms of fulfilling and delivering on projects to uplift the community. We request that you also investigate the other incomplete projects to ensure that there was no mismanagement or corruption,” Magalefa wrote.

Magalefa said residents alleged that houses were allocated to supporters of Moretele mayor, Andries Monageng, rather than the poor who were in need of decent housing.

“They also claim that those who will benefit irregularly are politically aligned to the mayor and are beneficiaries of the Community Workers Programme.”

He said community members further complain that there was never any consultation from the municipality on issues of service delivery, communication was sent out through SMS and it only went out to a few people. Municipal spokesperson Mothupi Malebye said allegations that supporters of the mayor were benefiting from the housing project were not correct.

“The municipality received a housing allocation of 2100 houses from the province, the houses a distributed throughout the 76 villages in the municipality based on the needs, 300 houses have been allocated for Cyferskuil,” he said.

He explained that three weeks ago residents in Cyferskuil embarked on a protest demanding that the 2100 houses should be allocated for Cyferskuil. Other communities in the municipality are complaining that it seems services are channelled to Cyferskuil, there is a new stadium being built there, there are internal roads as well as a clinic that operates 24 hours,” he said.

“The municipality has not received a formal complain from the DA, for the municipality to investigate. If communities are not happy with the system they can always engage with the municipality. The municipality has relevant committees such as technical services, ward committees those structures can meet and listen to complains from the community.

In other news – Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng slams attacks on judiciary

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng slammed how the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) assessed the performance of prosecutors by using the conviction rate of their cases as a test for determining their convictions.

Justice Mogoeng was delivering the annual judiciary report at the Constitutional Court on Thursday where he commended the performance of courts. Justice Mogoeng said the assessment method could force prosecutors to hide information and insist on the conviction of people who were innocent because of the pressure exerted on them by the NPA. Read more

SOurce: IOL

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