Monday, August 16, 2010

DA accuses authorities of silencing whistleblowers

The Democratic Alliance has accused Gauteng authorities of trying to silence dissent by arresting people who speak out about housing corruption. Nineteen people were arrested on Sunday for demonstrating at the Lufhereng Housing Project in Soweto after raising concerns about corruption in the allocation of RDP houses. Construction on the massive project began over a year ago and the first phase will be officially launched on Tuesday.

The DA’s James Lorrimer said the people went to the different RDP housing developments "to investigate allegations of corrupt housing allocations" where they were arrested by police on charges of trespassing and public violence. The Housing Department’s Victor Moreriane said this was not the first time there has been trouble at the development site. "What has been happening in the past few weeks is that there were also attempts to illegally invade the houses,” he said.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said he wanted to meet the arrested protesters to get to the bottom of the corruption allegations. The minister said the department relies on information from communities to crack down on dirty officials.

Source: Eye Witness News

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