"We have 7,363 pending cases of fraudulently acquired RDP houses throughout the country by government officials. We are still investigating the cases but we intend to prosecute all the individuals who benefited," said Simphiwe Damane-Mkhosana, head of an anti-corruption unit in the housing department.
She said the officials were obtaining the houses by providing false information in the application forms.
"Some of them said they were unemployed when filling the forms while others misdeclared their income to fit the criteria, so they could qualify for the houses," said Damane-Mkhosana.
Some of the civil servants were renting the houses out to tenants while others were living in them, she said.
"We discovered that some of these officials own about two houses from different provinces."
The bigger the province, more cases were uncovered according to the department. Gauteng province has the highest numbers, KwaZulu-Natal on second position, followed by Western Cape, Eastern Cape and the rest of other provinces depending on their population.
Damane-Mkhosana said seven teachers including a principal were found guilty of fraud in Vryburg on Tuesday.
The seven were sentenced to five years in prison suspended for five years on condition they pay back the money the houses were valued at and not commit the same offences within the same period. They were also given an option of a R20k fine.
"We are expecting more cases because since yesterday I have been receiving calls from people who are prepared to report more officials who benefited from the houses."
Damane-Mkhosana said the department was compiling a list of the people involved which would be sent to their various departments. - Sapa
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God bless you. The culprits should go to jails anyway for a minimum of ten years with no parole as they are robbing their own people. It is disgusting that members of Councils who get fat salaries for sitting on their fat arses and doing nothing, still want to defraud their own people.
Some of the things that are going on are really hard to believe. God bless you and keep up your good work by exposing the corruption. – Vic Sapier
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