Cape Town - Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has contradicted claims by Communicare tenant activists that the City of Cape Town had agreed to audit vacant land allegedly occupied by Communicare in order to conduct an investigation into the issue.
Hill-Lewis spoke out following the issuing of a press statement by the Communicare Tenant Beneficiaries (CTB) after they met with him and Mayco member for Human Settlements Malusi Booi on Wednesday last week.
The meeting was co-chaired by Hill-Lewis and community activist Loyiso Nkohla, while Housing Assembly activist Kashiefa Achmat was present in support of the CTB.
CTB spokesperson Mandisa Zamile said after the meeting that they had informed the mayor about Communicare’s “unlawful sale of statefunded social houses in Ruyterwacht” and alleged that Communicare had declared all their social housing rental stock as private rentals for which they were charging tenants market-related rent.
Zamile said Hill-Lewis said that he would authorise an audit of the rates and taxes of Communicare and Goodfind Properties (Pty) Ltd and that he had requested the location of the vacant land that Communicare occupied to assist with the investigation.
Asked for comment on the CTB’s claims, Hill-Lewis said he met with a small group of activists last week who handed him a memorandum relating to Communicare and that he merely signed the memorandum to acknowledge receiving it.
“The only commitment I made to the group was to read the memorandum carefully and continue the discussion at a later date.”
He said that while he fully intended to follow through on that commitment, it was unfortunate that he was being misrepresented.
Hill-Lewis said: “The City has no power whatsoever to audit Communicare, and it is unclear where this idea has come from.”
Commenting on the status of the Ruyterwacht properties, Communicare chief operating officer Makhosi Kubheka said the sale of property in Ruyterwacht was legal.
“Communicare has been selling houses legally in the suburb since the 1980s, which it is entitled to do.”
Kubheka said there were no government regulated social housing complexes in the Ruyterwacht area and that in fact only two Communicare complexes were currently regulated by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority.
She named these as Bothasig Gardens phases 2 and 3 and Drommedaris Pilot in Brooklyn, which has 219 rental units.
Kubheka said: “Communicare remains committed to making a tangible impact on social housing delivery in Cape Town. We will collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to achieve these objectives."
Earlier this month, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court ruled against Communicare in a case about eviction due to rent arrears.
In the judgment, acting magistrate Venice Burgins took issue with Communicare on the matter of the unresolved land claim against it in the Land Claims Court in Randburg, Johannesburg.
In November last year ,Land Claims Court Judge Thomas Ncube instructed the Deeds Office to provide all the documents related to Communicare’s ownership of a number of properties in a case where tenants had queried the real ownership.