Fokus on Racey Delft Symphony

The provincial government has dismissed allegations that Africans are given preference over coloured people when N2 Gateway houses are allocated.

At the height of the Delft invasion controversy, coloured people - several of whom have been on housing waiting lists for a quarter of a century and come mostly from backyards across the Cape Flats - accused the government of allowing Africans, who mostly live in informal settlements, to jump the queue for houses.

4th baby born on Delft Symphony pavement

Houses were allocated according to a consolidated list of people who had applied many years ago and those apartheid excluded from applying for a house, Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi said.

"It is not true that certain people are favoured. Unlike in the past, when housing allocation was done to divide poor communities, this government has an integrated list, irrespective of colour or background.

"From 2006 the national department, the province and the city started a process of integrating waiting lists. The list did not necessarily put new applicants below applicants on a list for years.

"This has nothing to do with a person's colour or giving Africans preference. In fact, the first N2 Gateway beneficiary in Delft was a coloured old lady."

Dyantyi said N2 Gateway houses were specifically for people from informal settlements and backyarders in townships along the N2 highway, and because people from informal settlements were in the majority, they were allocated 70 percent of houses built.

"As a government we concede that in the past we did not prioritise people living in backyards, and concentrated more on informal settlements because of pressure to deliver.

"We tended to ignore people in backyards, but we've learnt a big lesson. That is why we suggested certain interventions at the housing summit," he said.

Concerned by the allegations of favouritism, Dan Plato, the mayoral committee member for housing, has gathered the city's housing officials to formulate a document stating the city's position. The document would be made public this week, he said.

He said the Delft housing dispute had been sparked by claims that people who had been on a waiting list for less than five years, and in some instances about two years, had already received houses.

Housing agency Thubelisha Homes director Xhanti Sigcawu said a committee comprising housing officials from the city and provincial and national housing departments decided who on the list received a house.

"A list is given to us by the Allocations Committee, which is constituted by officials from the three spheres of government. We just act on the list the committee gives us."

The current housing backlog is about 410 000. In 2006 more than 100 000 people across the metro rushed to put their names on a waiting list when the government assigned auditing firm Nkonki to compile a national register.

The list Nkonki formulated was later incorporated into the city's.

Said Premier Ebrahim Rasool: "It is not just a coloured problem. We are all in the same boat. The coloured person who lives in backyard, the African person who lives in a squatter camp, both need houses." - Cape Times

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