Provincial authorities have refused to comment on rumours that bar-coded yellow stickers issued to some Grahamstown residents served as a guarantee they would get houses.
Provincial authorities have refused to comment on rumours that bar-coded yellow stickers issued to some Grahamstown residents served as a guarantee they would get houses.
Confirming that 1 000 RDP houses in Mayfield, also known as Extension 10, would be handed over to their new owners by April next year, senior regional manager for the Eastern Cape's Department of Human Settlements Kosalin Naicker said rumours about the yellow stickers should be checked with the local municipality.
"The houses should be finished and handed over to their new owners before the end of the first quarter of 2014," Naicker told Grocott's Mail.
Claims about the yellow stickers were made during a community meeting last week at Mayfield, where UPM leader Ayanda Kota read out names on a leaked list of housing beneficiaries.
Residents complained that some of the names on the list were those of people who had already received houses. Others complained that they had been applying for RDP homes since the 90s and still their names hadn't come up.
Once again, they would be left without houses.
In a telephone interview, however, Naicker said the list read out at the public meeting had not been the final list.
He said the list was still under scrutiny and that when the final list was complete, the public would be informed.
Naicker explained the process of applying for an RDP house:
- Residents who qualify for RDP houses submit their names and copies of their identity documents to their ward councillors.
- The councillors must submit these names, along with copies of the identity documents to the local municipality, which sends them on to the Department Human Settlements in Bhisho.
- The Department of Human Settlements screens the applications.
- A preliminary list is drawn up. This list is not a public document, according to Naicker.
Attempts to elicit comment from the municipality regarding the rumour that bar-coded yellow stickers served as confirmation an applicant would receive an RDP house had been unsuccessful at the time of publishing.
