The process to verify low-cost housing application status and to register new applicants resumed in the Ekurhuleni metro’s Southern Region Customer Care Centres as of August 15.
In Boksburg, the registration process ran from August 15 to 20, at the Boksburg Civic Centre Hall, which saw hundreds of people queuing outside the civic centre.
The committee claims that the overcrowding of people from other areas outside Boksburg prevented some of the Reiger Park residents from applying for RDP houses.
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Maki Shale from the Reiger Park Flat Committee said: “I don’t understand why people from other areas registered at the Boksburg Civic Centre because they had their own areas of registration, like Vosloorus and other areas, but they chose to come here.
“Now, because of the long queues, some of the residents in Reiger Park didn’t get the chance to apply. Also, why did they want Reiger Park people to register at the Boksburg Civic Centre, while we have our own Customer Care Centre (CCC) in Reiger Park.”
Shale said when it’s election time they vote at the Reiger Park CCC, but now that they want houses, the metro doesn’t care about them and makes them go into town (Boksburg Civic Centre).
“We demand our registration in Reiger Park, which includes Ramaphosa, Slovo, Kalamazoo and the hostel,” she said.
According to metro spokesperson Themba Gadeba, the registration went smoothly.
“The response from the public was very positive as we had many people who queued in the line, which resulted in the lines being cut.
“The public’s response to the call shows that people really need houses. Our emphasis on August 15 to 20 was only on Boksburg residents and surrounding areas, but we understand that people from other areas registered at the Boksburg Civic Centre.”
Responding to the disappointment of the residents who wanted to register in Reiger Park, Gadebe said it won’t be fair to cover one area because the registration process was a centralised registration for the whole of Boksburg.
The dissatisfied Reiger Park resident said the committee has submitted a letter to the MEC of Housing requesting that the registrations be brought closer to them.
The committee is threatening a march if their plea is not heard. The march is planned for Monday, August 28.
There are also claims that on Saturday, August 19, there was chaos which left some of the doors of the civic centre being broken down.
Gadeba dismissed the claims, saying he wasn’t aware of the chaos.
“This process ensured that new and old applications for low-cost housing were verified and those who were not in the system but qualify were registered on the national database of the housing needs register.
“Officials worked weekdays and weekends to ensure that a large number of people were attended to.”
During registration, applicants were requested to bring along documents, such as their bar-coded identity book or smart card, birth certificates of dependants, marriage certificates if married, divorce decree and pay slips.
