NO VOTE NO HOUSE

Former MPs and their dependants, who are illegally occupying parliamentary houses, face eviction so the state can house new MPs who have been lodging at hotels at taxpayers' expense since May. (from IOL) Anyone can walk into Akacia Park! It's just that they don't want to leave!!!

House chairperson Ben Skosana told the National Assembly during Parliament's budget vote debate this week that the former MPs will be forced out of the parliamentary villages "where members and their dependants were not vacating the residences on time and the Department of Public Works had to initiate eviction processes".

Public Works spokesperson Thami Mchunu said "so far two MPs have been handed over to the state attorneys".

"The approximate period for eviction, on average, is three months but could be sooner depending on the co-operation of the member being evicted," said Mchunu.

An expert on property law told Weekend Argus that evictions, which involve lengthy legal process, could take at least a year and a half, if the occupants of the homes were unwilling to leave.

COPE complained earlier last month that its MPs had yet to be allocated houses, slamming the incompetence of the ANC.

National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu said he was not aware of accommodation problems.

An ANC MP told Weekend Argus that this week he did not mind staying at a hotel because it saved him from having to cook.

MPs are housed at the Holiday Inn Express in St George's Mall, a walking distance from Parliament.

The hotel's rates start at just over R700 a night.

Notices by the Department of Public Works are displayed at the reception and in hotel lifts, reminding MPs that they were limited to R120 a day for dinner, "including two soft drinks" and R200 a week for laundry.

MPs are entitled to a home or a flat for a nominal fee - less than R200. This was considered one of their perks.

Skosana admitted that some MPs were still staying at hotels.

"There are 342 members who are taking occupation at the residences, and unfortunately a few have had to be accommodated at hotels while their residences were being vacated or renovated," said Skosana.

Mchunu said 12 MPs were still accommodated at hotels and his department was paying the bill.

Skosana's revelations come after Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge said he wanted to review the policy on parliamentary villages to speed up the process of new MPs moving into their houses.

"I want to look at this policy because it has a number of implications in terms of cost factors.

"We know it's very difficult for people who have lived in a house for five years when they are not re-elected and then have to leave.

"But we have to find more creative ways to allow that the newly elected members move in quickly, that's the policy we are going to be working on," Doidge said last month.

Meanwhile, Sisulu has admitted that Parliament was experiencing financial strain despite his denial in an interview with the Sunday Independent two weeks ago.

Sisulu said a R143-million budget shortfall will make it difficult for MPs to do their jobs properly.

Parliament's budget for this year is R947m and has been severely pruned as a result of the government's cost-cutting due to the recession.

Sisulu said the amount allocated was below what was required and it would be difficult to give MPs - about 50 percent of whom are new - the necessary training and support.

Sisulu said Parliament received less money than the Department of Public Works.

The chairman of committee chairpersons, Obed Bapela, said departments that invited committee members to meetings outside Cape Town were now being asked to foot the bill for transport and meals, while Parliament carried the cost of accommodation only.