Nearly 20,000 beneficiaries have been left in the lurch as a total of 25 Western Cape housing projects have been affected by extortionists over the last five years.
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This was revealed by Tertius Simmers, the MEC for Human Settlements and Infrastructure, in a written answer to a question from Matlhodi Maseko, DA MPL and chairperson of the standing committee on human settlements.
Simmers was asked by Maseko how many housing projects in the province had been delayed, and how many beneficiaries had been affected by violence, extortion and intimidation by gangs in the last five years.
Responding to the question, Simmers confirmed that 25 housing projects had been delayed while a total of 18,721 beneficiaries had been affected.
The chair of the standing committee said it was evident that the impact of this criminality was draining public coffers and halting critical service delivery, to the detriment of residents.
Maseko added that fighting faceless criminal extortionists who deny beneficiaries access to the dignity of home ownership required immediate cooperation across all branches of government as well as communities.
“Community members across the Western Cape must report to the SAPS and other law enforcement agencies when they have intel on extortion cases,” she said.
Forest Village, which affects 3,254 beneficiaries, is one of the housing projects in question. Other communities include Eerste River, Mitchells Plain, Delft, Macassar, Kalbaskraal, Citrusdal, Swartland, Paarl and Kraaifontein.
According to News24 reports, the Western Cape government spent more than R215 million on security to protect key housing projects in the province.
Speaking to the the publication on Wednesday, Simmers said that the impacted qualifying beneficiaries are scattered across 25 projects.
“I have repeatedly reiterated my call; this is happening in our communities, and our community is a key stakeholder and partner where we develop projects to ensure beneficiaries qualify,” he said, adding that extortion, housing projects being invaded and units being damaged, were robbing people of housing.
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Picture: Cape{town}Etc Library