Swapo shack fires: South Africans ‘fronting’ for foreigners to secure government aid – Duma

According to Duma, a foreign national was the landlord of the shacks and charged R250 per shack with illegal electricity connections. A raging fire destroyed at least 20 shacks at the Swapo Informal Settlement in Copsville in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday. According to the department of transport and human settlements, the fire originated from the shack occupied by a woman, who unfortunately died in the fire, and her surviving partner. On Sunday, MEC for Transport and Human Settlements Siboniso Duma commended uMsunduzi Municipality for its swift response and rapid intervention. According to Duma, a foreign national was the landlord of the shacks and charged R250 per shack with illegal electricity connections. He said the verification process to determine the number of affected community members revealed that the affected were foreign nationals. They will not be receiving emergency housing assistance from the government, said Duma. “19 foreign nationals occupied the destroyed shacks. One South African with a questionable Identification document also occupied a shack. We are engaging the Department of Home Affairs to verify the authenticity of the ID owned by one South African,” said Duma. “Flowing from above, we wish to reiterate our position that foreign nationals will never be considered for emergency housing assistance, building material, or RDP houses. This is in line with the government policy.” He said that, in light of this, some South Africans were fronting for foreign nationals in an attempt to receive government assistance. “The department has lost more than R2 billion as a result of fraud associated with the sale and renting of RDP houses to foreign nationals. “This cost includes the purchase of land, rezoning for development, housing plans, environmental impact assessments, conveyancing, bulk infrastructure, and construction. “It takes years for the state to build such houses, and these must remain in the hands of South Africans.”