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R/£ 'ANC share of parliamentary homes exceeds seats'
December 15, 2009 Edition 1
Cope MP Dennis Bloem says he is serving papers at the Cape Town High Court to reopen the tussle over the parliamentary houses that he and fellow ANC defector Bishop Lekoba Tholo were made to leave last month.
Briefing the media yesterday, Bloem said the findings of an as-yet unpublished audit commissioned by the Department of Public Works showed the allocation of houses in the three parliamentary villages were "heavily skewed in favour of the ANC".
"Not only has the Department of Public Works allowed the ANC to keep a proportion of housing units that exceeds its representation in Parliament, it has also permitted the ANC to monopolise the larger and more comfortable units."
The tug of war over two houses that Bloem and Tholo had occupied for 15 and 10 years began after the elections when the pair returned to Parliament as MPs for Cope. Both lived in four-bedroomed homes and were told to move to two-bedroomed units to make way for ANC MPs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Manto Tshabala-Msimang.
In July, Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge served legal notices on the two Cope politicians. They refused to move and the matter went to court.
Last month, in an out-of-court settlement, they were given three-bedroomed homes and the department was ordered to audit the allocation of parliamentary housing.
Bloem said the audit by Sekela Consulting had been completed late last month, but failed to comply with the terms of the court order and lacked essential components, including assurances of accuracy.
He also alleged that the ANC's insistence that Tshabala-Msimang and Madikizela-Mandela move into the houses was a political smokescreen to victimise opposition MPs.
He had moved out three weeks ago and Tholo a month ago, but Madikizela-Mandela and the former health minister had not taken up occupancy, he said.
Bloem and Tholo confirmed they were paying the same rent - R197, including water and electricity - as they had before. The rate is standard for all units.
Bloem rejected suggestions that Cope was blowing the matter of proportion while millions of ordinary South Africans lacked decent housing. It was the ANC who had begun the fight, he said.
"Why is the ANC making a fuss? Lots of things in South Africa need attention. People are crying out for housing, but they are making a fuss over Bloem and Tholo."
Bloem said he expected the court to set a date next month to hear their grievances.
"If the court finds that Cope must occupy one or two of those houses, then they must give us back our houses," Bloem said.
The contested houses are in a block of eight in Pelican Park that were used by ministers under the apartheid regime.
Bloem said ANC MPs now occupied seven of these houses, while the eighth was being used by Ben Skosana of the IFP. - Sapa
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