DCI Community Housing Services Must Stop Pricing Out Low-Income Tenants and Using Social Housing as a Cash Cow

GOOD Statement by Axolile Notywala, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:

The GOOD Party, a member of Unite for Change, is appalled by reports from tenants at the Goodwood Social Housing complex who are being threatened with illegal evictions and lease cancellations. Tenants have been warned that their biometric access to their homes will be cut off today, Friday 10 October 2025, even where they have made payment arrangements. Pensioners, many of whom have never missed a rental payment, have been told their leases will be cancelled without explanation.

These tactics amount to intimidation and harassment of vulnerable tenants fighting to keep a roof over their heads. Such threats are unlawful and violate the Rental Housing Act, which clearly states that no landlord may evict or deny access to a tenant without a court order. DCI was established to provide affordable, dignified housing for working-class and low-income households, not to profit from their hardship. Yet, the organisation is treating social housing as a cash cow, prioritising profit over people.

This crisis comes as working-class families face severe economic pressures,  rising food prices, transport costs, and municipal tariffs are eroding already stretched incomes. Social housing institutions should be offering support and relief, not punishment. Choosing illegal lockouts and evictions over empathy and fairness is immoral, inhumane, and contrary to the principles of social housing.

Over recent months, GOOD and several civil society organisations have repeatedly urged tenants not to engage in rent strikes and to continue paying rent while we work to resolve issues at DCI. However, tenants continue to be exploited by collusion between DCI and Annasa Holdings, the company contracted to manage utilities. Residents report being charged for electricity even during power outages, compounding financial strain and deepening mistrust.

We call on DCI CEO Fezile Calana to immediately halt these exploitative practices, engage transparently with tenants and the Rental Housing Tribunal, and terminate Annasa’s contract. DCI should transact directly with the City of Cape Town, as Annasa’s involvement has become a source of ongoing conflict and hardship.

The City of Cape Town is also complicit in this injustice. Many tenants fall behind on rent not because they are unwilling to pay, but because they are crushed by exorbitant service charges passed on by the City. The City must urgently review these costs and provide relief to low-income tenants who are being punished for living in so-called “affordable” housing.

It is hypocritical for the City to celebrate international awards, like the recent IPMA award highlighting DCI’s projects, while ignoring the suffering of the very tenants these developments were meant to benefit. This double standard reveals an administration more concerned with trophies than with tenants.

Oversight bodies cannot continue to turn a blind eye while low-income tenants are intimidated and displaced in the name of profit.

We call for solidarity with all tenants at DCI, especially those facing lockouts. They are our neighbours, elders, and workers, and they deserve security, dignity, and compassion, not threats and humiliation.

Social housing must serve its true purpose: to provide affordable, secure homes for working-class families, not to enrich developers or exploit the poor.

GOOD stands with the tenants of DCI and demands an immediate end to these unjust, unlawful, and immoral practices.

GOOD Social Welfare: GOOD supports social welfare programs aimed at assisting the vulnerable.

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