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The Congress of South African Trade Unions hails the Minister of Human Settlements for his battle to unearth corruption in housing projects.

This move by Comrade Tokyo Sexwale is exactly the sort of bold initiative that COSATU and all honest South Africans have been calling for.

The national audit task team investigation have examined 10246 housing projects, identified "the top 10 dodgy contracts in each province" and then narrowed them down to 20 contracts, each worth R100million.

The Department has revealed that thousands of houses have been condemned for poor workmanship, some of which would have to be destroyed and others fixed at a cost of millions of rands of public money.

1910 government officials who had unlawfully benefited from housing subsidies have been arrested and 1297 of these prosecuted. One conveyancing attorney in KwaZulu-Natal alone had been charged with 142 counts of fraud and theft.

The investigations is now going to focus on housing syndicates which are an increasing concern, subsidy frauds and on dodgy contractors, primarily operating in Gauteng, North West and KwaZulu-Natal.

COSATU is particularly pleased that R44 million so far recovered from provincial municipal officials will go back into the Human Settlements grants for service delivery.

The federation applauds the minister's determination to fight corruption, which he correctly says "is so endemic in our country. We are convinced that this will give hope and people will know that something is being done to expose corruption. We are increasing resources into investigating all those who abuse the system".

COSATU warns all those who think that they can get away with robbing the poor and sabotaging the delivery of houses and services for their own self-enrichment that they are being watched and will not escape the law and the anger of the masses.