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By Thami Magubane 
3h ago
Durban – The Cornubia government housing project’s list of houses “for sale” has sparked an outcry and has been described as offensive to the thousands of shack dwellers waiting to be assigned houses.
One of the houses in the eThekwini municipality’s flagship housing project went up for sale on social media at a price of R190,000. Others have also been put up for sale in recent months.
Omi Nair, who posted about the recent sale, said: “Can anyone ask the eThekwini municipality to explain this? So, sell the house they gave you and then (go back) to the shacks with your pockets full and again in line for another house. It is not surprising that the housing problem does not end ”.
The Mercury understands that the home in question was fairly new and no title deed had been issued, but the owner had documents indicating ownership.
Residents said that many people in the area had sold their houses in Cornubia.
They said the houses were being sold, even without title deeds, with the help of lawyers and the use of property documents.
IFP councilor Mdu Nkosi said that the sale of the houses was a criminal act.
“This speaks to the fact that this person fraudulently received the house because he claimed he needed it when in fact he was not. This affects people who are desperate for houses but are not getting them.
“It is very worrying that the houses in Cornubia are the ones that are being sold, that development is quite new and has not reached the point where people can sell the houses legally,” he said.
DA councilman Zamani Khuzwayo, a member of the municipal housing committee, said he raised the issue after learning about the sale of houses in the Cornubia project.
“The committee’s response was that none of this was happening, but I have faced numerous encounters with people claiming to have been misled after buying houses in the Cornubia project. When you dig into how they bought the houses there, they become uncooperative and evasive, ”he said.
Nicole Graham, leader of the DA caucus, said that while people could sell the houses after a certain period, the sales in Cornubia were concerning as the houses were unlikely to be within that period.
He said there was poor regulation of what happened to houses that had been transferred to residents and abuse of the system was widespread.
“Some people receive several houses and rent them while living in a dependency. There needs to be some degree of control, otherwise the government is spending the money and is not achieving the goal of providing decent housing to those who need it, “he said.
The ANC councilor for the Cornubia area, Siyabonga Thango, said they had dealt with numerous complaints from people selling houses in the area.
“Most of them have been people who are committing fraud trying to sell a house. People come to tell us that they paid a deposit to a person and that person has disappeared ”.
He said that those who owned the houses should not sell them because there was a backlog of houses and should return them if they did not need them.
EThekwini Municipality spokesman Msawakhe Mayisela said that people could legally sell their houses if they had the title deeds and it had been five years since they received those titles.
“However, if they decide to sell before the expiration of the five years, they must notify the city and we have the option to buy them back or allow them to sell through the appropriate channels.”
Mayisela said they were only aware of a few sales and that the illegal sales claims had been exaggerated.
“The government across the board is opposed to the sale of houses, but each situation is evaluated on its own merits, as the owner of the house may have compelling reasons to sell.
“Illegal sales result in a change of occupancy before a title deed is issued, and this creates problems because when it is issued it will be in the name of the original owner, which means that the home will never be transferred to the buyer.”
Human Settlements Department spokesman Mbulelo Baloyi said that illegal sales were one of the problems facing the department.
“Create a revolving door where you find people protesting demanding houses, only to find out that they have received a house and are renting it to someone. Some people who live in informal settlements have houses that they rent, ”he said. “We have seen these houses posted on social media. You find out that we give deeds to people and a week later someone has put the house up for sale with the deed. “
He said that last year some 400 people in Cornubia received land titles and around 1000 more land titles would be delivered this year.
“The department discourages such activity, but once a person receives a title deed, there is nothing the department can do. For many people, these are “easy to get, easy to carry.” People have no attachment to the property they did not work for, ”said Baloyi.
The Mercury
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