Payments to a housing project in Middelpos, Western Cape have been suspended following claims of corruption around site allocation, the province's human settlements department said on Friday.
"There have been allegations of corruption against the outgoing Saldanha municipality, relating to the allocation of up to 1 350 sites to housing beneficiaries," department spokesperson Bruce Oom said.
"It seems like sites were allocated by council members without following due processes. They kind of hijacked the process and allocated to favourites, relatives and who they felt like really."
Two housing developments exist in the informal settlement, containing 550 and 800 sites respectively.
The area had been part of the ANC-controlled Saldanha Bay municipality. The DA took over the reins following last week's local government elections.
Provincial human settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela halted the project until corruption claims were investigated and the allocation process was reviewed.
"We need to consult with the Middelpos community to make sure we are in agreement with them about the beneficiary selection process and who will get the houses," he was quoted as saying in a statement.
"This will be done through a series of community meetings. Once agreement has been reached, then work will resume."
Madikizela said the shared vision between regional and local government would "unblock" a number of cases caused by a previous lack of co-operation.
