NOLUVO MGIJIMA 

UNHAPPY residents of Kokstad have called for fairness and transparency over a housing project called Community Residential Units, currently under construction.

On Monday morning, they occupied the premises of the Greater Kokstad Municipality to seek clarity on the allocation of beneficiaries. They claimed the municipality made a public advertisement for people to apply for the houses instead of using the existing list of people who applied in 2017.

They said by calling for new applicants, the municipality was dismissing the existing list.

“The construction of the houses was approved because we sent our documents and met the criteria to be beneficiaries,” a frustrated resident said.

Another resident claimed that the municipality made people pay for credit checks despite the project being fully funded by the state.

They said the municipality must take down the advertisement until all housing beneficiaries from the approved list are allocated.

The municipality has dismissed the allegations and said that the list of beneficiaries will not be changed.

Mayor Lwanda Madikizela addressed the angry residents and said that people who applied in 2017 will be the first priority during the allocation of houses.

A meeting will be called to resolve the issues.