Defaulters face eviction

FOURTEEN municipal employees, who live in council-owned flats but owe massive amounts in arrears - including one official who owes almost R140 000 for a three-bedroomed flat for which he pays R2 961 a month - have been handed over for eviction.

Two of the 14 officials, who live in Newton Court, owe the municipality in excess of R100 000 each, while one employee, who lives in Impala Court, where his rental is R1 614 a month, owes more than R150 000.

Among the 14 officials who have been handed over for eviction, two are from Tiffany Court, four from Holland Court, one from the Dingaan hostel, one from Eugene Court, two from Jonker Court and two from Impala Court.

The names of the erring officials, as well as the amounts they owe, have been included in the agenda of the Human Settlements Services Committee, where the matter was up for discussion yesterday.

The report on municipal flats being rented by staff members shows that at Tiffany Court, where the monthly rental is R2 597 for a two-bedroom flat, six of the tenants are municipal employees. The total amount owed by the six is R148 916. Only two of the residents are up to date with their payments.

At Newton Court, 10 of the flats are occupied by municipal employees.

Here the rental ranges from R2 105 for a one-bedroomed flat, R2 597 for a two-bedroomed flat and R2 961 for a three-bedroomed flat. Four of the employees renting the flats are up to date with their rentals. The total outstanding amount is R410 763.

Seven Sol Plaatje staff members rent flats at Holland Court, where the rental is R1 656 for a bachelor flat, R1 915 for a one-bedroomed flat and R2 334 for a two-bedroomed flat. The rental for a three-bedroomed flat is R2 462. Two municipal employees are up to date with the payments and the outstanding amount is R127 296. One tenant, who rents a two-bedroomed flat, owes more than R65 000.

Nine employees live at the Dingaan Hostels, where the rental is R234 a month. Two of those who are in arrears have stop-orders on their salaries and only one has had the electricity disconnected due to non-payment. The remaining are all up to date with their payments.

At the municipal flats in Beaconsfield, the total amount owed by municipal officials is just short of half-a-million rand at R487 238. Several have failed to pay the arrangements made for their arrears and an instruction has been issued for their electricity to be cut.

One staff member in Impala Court, whose rental is R1 614 a month, owes more than R150 000, while another in Jonker Court owes R73 000.

If the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) gets its way, the minimum wage for municipal workers will be upped to R10 000 per month.

At the recent wage negotiations, trade unions representing municipal workers submitted joint opening demands to the employer body of an across the board 15 percent salary increase or R3 155, whichever is greater.

The unions further demand a R2 000 housing allowance for all employees. These negotiations are continuing.

Meanwhile, employees of the Sol Plaatje Municipality, as well as other government officials, have also put their names down to be first in line for the Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (Flisp), which is aimed at South African citizens with an average household income of between R3 501 and R15 000 a month.

Applicants must first obtain approval for a home loan from their bank before they can apply to participate in the programme.

There are currently 104 sites up for grabs in Kimberley and many of the applicants who have expressed an interest are Sol Plaatje employees, or work for the SAPS, Correctional Services and other government departments.

Under Flisp rules, first-time home buyers can qualify for onceoff subsidies of between R20 000 and R87 000, depending on what they earn and provided they haven’t benefited from a government subsidy before.