Drug dealers, prostitutes lived high life in state houses

November 16 2011 at 08:29pm
By BALDWIN NDABA

THE STAR

An unemployed Congolese citizen paid rent of R3 000 a month for this house and earned R6 000 from renting out its rooms.

Illegal immigrants, prostitutes and drug dealers lived in houses belonging to the Gauteng provincial government, and were forced by landlords to pay exorbitant rents.

Some of these houses were legally leased by the government to South Africans, but the legal tenants became landlords, altered the houses and sub-let them to mostly illegal immigrants.

Other houses were turned into shebeens and drug dens.

These are the findings of the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development, which is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the 40 houses in Boksburg North.

The department conducted its investigation following an exposé in The Star last month which revealed that the houses were used as brothels and drug dens – a fact confirmed by a department-organised raid on October 27. The report compiled by Thami Mali, chief director: security management, found that the department had legally leased house 54, 14th Avenue, to a South African man who contravened the agreement.
The illegal occupant of this house claimed she was paying rent of R2 800 but couldn t explain who she was paying it to. Photo: Bongiwe Mchunu

THE STAR

The man created extra rooms in the house using partitions. He also erected shacks in the yard, which he sub-let for R7 000 a month. Most of the occupants were illegal immigrants. He paid the department R500 in rent. His neighbour at number 56 created five extra rooms in the house, which he rented out for between R700 and R1 500 a month and which saw him pocket R8 900 a month.

“When asked how he pays rent to the department on a monthly basis, he could not substantiate (on) the matter. Again at this house, it was discovered that the lessee harboured illegal immigrants. These illegal immigrants were arrested during the raid,” the report states. Further down the street, at house number 82, the original lessee was no longer occupying it and the new occupant had erected six rooms inside the house and six shacks which he rented out.

His tenants, illegal immigrants, paid him between R700 and R1 600, and he collected R14 000 in rent every month. House No 86, according to Mali, was occupied by illegal immigrants, who fled when officials arrived. A search of the property uncovered drugs, and “the house has been sealed so that these drug dealers cannot enter again”.

At house No 88, the department failed to track down the legal lessee, but the occupant produced a lease agreement in his name and said he paid the department R3 500 in rental.

The man had created seven extra rooms in the house and sub-let them. Many of his tenants were illegal immigrants who paid him between R1 000 and R1 900 a month. He collected R16 000 a month.

“The team also discovered that the lessee is selling alcohol at the house. Again at this house it was discovered that the lessee is unemployed and clearly does not meet the requirements for the lease because it’s clear that without the extra cash from the sub-let tenants, he cannot afford to lease the property,” Mali said. In the next street, in 15th Avenue, one of the tenants in house No 85 produced a “blank copy of the lease agreement” and claimed she had got it from a government official. The illegal occupant claimed she paid R2 800 a month in rent.
Her neighbour at house number 87 was an unemployed Congolese citizen who claimed that the property was handed over to him by the legal lessee. According to the report, he also contravened the lease agreement by creating wooden or prefab structures in the house, which he sub-let for R500 each. He collected R6 000 a month from his tenants and paid R3 000 to the department.
Not all the houses were found to be illegally occupied. But the department found that some of the legal occupants were paying below market-related rent. Gauteng Department of Infrastructure head Mapula Modipa said it had advised all the legal occupants to sign new lease agreements. All the illegal occupants were served with eviction notices.

This was the first raid in Gauteng to reclaim illegally rented state property. More raids are expected. -
The Star