Cape Town -The Public Works and Infrastructure Department has denied any involvement in the eviction of police officers living in SAPS designated housing and safehouses in Cape Town.
Concerns have been raised by the families after officials and they were told to vacate by the end of this month.
Minister Patricia de Lille has been called ‘the Grinch who stole Christmas’ because of the massive rent hikes at SAPS properties.
It’s said the rent will be R11,000, which is equal to the salaries most of the officers receive.
They are living there for security reasons, because of targeted attacks.
However, de Lille said her department was the custodian of the properties, while the SAPS managed them.
“The management entails the allocation of properties to officials in line with the SAPS’ own internal processes and policies,” said the department’s Thami Mchunu.
Mchunu added that in 2018 and 2019, the SAPS asked the department to commission a comparable market analysis.
At the time, the department did not implement any rental increases on the properties managed by the SAPS.
