Evicted owners could be given back their houses

● Bhisho, metro offer to clear debts of hundreds of poor residents

Hundreds of Motherwell and Uitenhage residents whose homes were repossessed could get them back after Bhisho and the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality stepped in.

The municipality has agreed to clear more than R5.6m owed for rates and other services.

According to the municipality, the Eastern Cape human settlements department intervened and offered to pay subsidies to the people who were living in the houses to avoid their homes being sold to anyone else.

The subsidies would then be paid over to Hlano Financial Services, a company that was managing a trust that funded homes for people who earn less than R1,500 a month.

About 300 houses were built from the R20m trust set up by the apartheid government in 1988.

People were required to pay a 5% site cost to qualify for a home deal.

The homeowners then paid bond instalments of R350 a month to Khayalethu Financial Services.

The company later changed hands and is now known as Hlano Financial Services.

Over the years, as some defaulted on their payments, there were threats to repossess their homes and eventually dozens were evicted.

A report to the mayoral committee, which met on Wednesday, said Hlano had started selling the houses to other prospective buyers.

The department of human settlements stepped in and offered to pay the subsidy for the money owed to Hlano for the houses, but outstanding municipal bills were still hanging over the owners’ heads.

The mayoral committee agreed to write off the R5.6m that some of the property owners owe the municipality.

This is, however, subject to approval by the full council.

The municipality has already scrapped about R5m owed by 169 property owners in the 2015/2016 financial year.

Acting CFO Jackson Ngcelwane said the debt dates back to 2000.

He said the write-off was the city’s way of supporting poor households who had no way of paying off the debt.

The move would ensure that the residents are not displaced.

“The Eastern Cape department of human settlements wants to avoid a scenario where these people are evicted,” Ngcelwane said.

“The municipality needs to support these residents by clearing their debt.

“These are poor people who previously worked and are now no longer employed.

“We can’t just fold our arms and have them evicted from the houses they have been living in their whole lives.”

He said that the amount the city would need to write off had possibly escalated to R6m as the metro continues to bill the property owners.

“In the event that council agrees to this request, budget and treasury will process the write-offs and issue mandatory rates clearance certificates to allow the transfer of the 101 properties to the beneficiaries.”

Human settlements spokesperson Phiwokuhle Soga said it would continue trying to assist more residents.

“We are faced with a big problem, especially with the old bonds. There is a similar challenge in Uitenhage and Despatch area.

“In 2016, we reached a breakthrough when the department handed over title deeds to 97 Motherwell families, some of whom have been staying in Hlano properties without ownership for over two decades, as a confirmation of home ownership and security of tenure.

“We will continue to engage with all affected parties to find a solution.”