Some 125 corrupt civil servants in the Western Cape have signed debt acknowledgements of almost R2-million collectively for government houses they obtained fraudulently, Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi said on Sunday.
Dyantyi announced this as he launched a door-to-door campaign to check whether the rightful owners were occupying RDP houses.
At the start of the campaign at Du Noon on Sunday, Dyantyi said the project tied in with a government crackdown on corrupt civil servants.
A Special Investigating Unit (SIU) inquiry found that of 31 000 public servants investigated nationally for acquiring government houses illegally, 2 279 were in the province.
Last week, 17 of them appeared in the Hermanus regional court. A further nine in George and 19 in Cape Town await court dates.
SIU spokesperson Trinesha Naidoo said 125 public servants caught out had signed acknowledgements of debt totalling R1 781 706: "They need to pay back the subsidy they initially received."
She said defrauded departments and municipalities could not be identified for fear of jeopardising investigations.
Dyantyi said his department had adopted a no-nonsense attitude to all forms of corruption, whether by public officials or in the community. He said a verification campaign followed allegations of housing fraud in disadvantaged communities.
"In 14 years, this government's made many strides in delivery of houses. We also have many challenges, but nothing wrong must be done in the name of poverty, unemployment or other social ills. When it comes to housing, the poor person is given a house which becomes an asset to help that person be better off.
"We will have zero tolerance on corruption and we have the same attitude when dealing with municipalities or my department."
Dyantyi said people had voted for the government in the hope public servants would provide a better service.
"Public servants should act in a way that give a service to our communities. We should not be involved in any wrongdoing because we're supposed to be the custodians of good and efficient service delivery.
"We've been working with the SIU, so regardless of who the person is, whether in my department or elsewhere, we want to act against those persons involved in fraud because if we don't, this problem will continue," Dyantyi said.
He said an interim report, on information collected during yesterday's launch, would be given by the end of the week.
People visited on Sunday had a mixed response. While some showed proof of ownership, others said they were renting.
Said Dyantyi: "People have been co-operative and telling us what they know, whether they bought a house from somebody, and so on. This project is very important. There have been many rumours and allegations, but to act, we want hard evidence." - Cape Times
Dyantyi announced this as he launched a door-to-door campaign to check whether the rightful owners were occupying RDP houses.
At the start of the campaign at Du Noon on Sunday, Dyantyi said the project tied in with a government crackdown on corrupt civil servants.
A Special Investigating Unit (SIU) inquiry found that of 31 000 public servants investigated nationally for acquiring government houses illegally, 2 279 were in the province.
| 'They need to pay back the subsidy they initially received' |
SIU spokesperson Trinesha Naidoo said 125 public servants caught out had signed acknowledgements of debt totalling R1 781 706: "They need to pay back the subsidy they initially received."
She said defrauded departments and municipalities could not be identified for fear of jeopardising investigations.
Dyantyi said his department had adopted a no-nonsense attitude to all forms of corruption, whether by public officials or in the community. He said a verification campaign followed allegations of housing fraud in disadvantaged communities.
"In 14 years, this government's made many strides in delivery of houses. We also have many challenges, but nothing wrong must be done in the name of poverty, unemployment or other social ills. When it comes to housing, the poor person is given a house which becomes an asset to help that person be better off.
| 'People have been co-operative' |
Dyantyi said people had voted for the government in the hope public servants would provide a better service.
"Public servants should act in a way that give a service to our communities. We should not be involved in any wrongdoing because we're supposed to be the custodians of good and efficient service delivery.
"We've been working with the SIU, so regardless of who the person is, whether in my department or elsewhere, we want to act against those persons involved in fraud because if we don't, this problem will continue," Dyantyi said.
He said an interim report, on information collected during yesterday's launch, would be given by the end of the week.
People visited on Sunday had a mixed response. While some showed proof of ownership, others said they were renting.
Said Dyantyi: "People have been co-operative and telling us what they know, whether they bought a house from somebody, and so on. This project is very important. There have been many rumours and allegations, but to act, we want hard evidence." - Cape Times
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