Disabled man stranded after municipality takes away RDP house

An RDP house in Cinderella Park, owned by the municipality, was taken away from a disabled man after he allegedly rented out the property.

The KZN Human Settlements said Sihle Zondi was not given the house because he was not living in it.

Zondi moved into the house in 2005 while the Msunduzi Municipality was still looking for the recipient to whom the house had been originally allocated.

In August 2008, the Msunduzi executive council took a resolution to approve Zondi as the legitimate owner of the house as they could not locate the rightful owner.

The resolution stated that the decision to allocate the house to Zondi was based on his account of limited mobility.

Zondi said he was told by the municipality that if the owner of the house pitches then they will consider him or her in the next housing project.

Zondi was admitted to hospital in December 2015 and returned to his house a month later shocked to find that the house had been occupied by someone else.

KZN Human Settlements spokesperson Mbulelo Baloyi said when the houses in Cinderella Park had been completed the department handed them over to the municipality.

He said the process to legalise Zondi’s occupation of the house was stopped when the department heard that Zondi was renting out the house.

However Zondi, has denied the allegations saying he had asked people to look after the property when he was hospitalised.

Zondi said he is currently staying in Jika Joe informal settlement.

Msunduzi spokesperson Thobeka Mafumbatha did not respond to queries on the issue.