{"id":42651,"date":"2023-01-11T20:03:23","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T20:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold"},"modified":"2023-01-11T20:52:40","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T20:52:40","slug":"extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold","title":{"rendered":"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving almost 19 000 beneficiaries in the lurch.<\/p>\n<p>Human Settlements and Infrastructure MEC Tertius Simmers revealed this in a written reply to a question in the legislature posed by DA MPL and chairperson of the standing committee on human settlements Matlhodi Maseko.<\/p>\n<p>Maseko asked Simmers how many housing projects in the Western Cape have been delayed, and how many beneficiaries affected, due to violence, extortion, and intimidation by gangs in the last five years.<\/p>\n<p>In his reply, Simmers said 25 housing projects had been delayed, and 18 721 beneficiaries waiting for houses have been affected.<\/p>\n<p>Maseko said it was clear the impact of this criminality was not only draining public coffers and halting critical service delivery, but also having a dire impact on residents.<\/p>\n<p>She added fighting faceless criminal extortionists who denied beneficiaries access to the dignity of home ownership required immediate cooperation across all branches of government as well as communities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Community members across the Western Cape must report to the SAPS and other law enforcement agencies when they have intel on extortion cases,&#8221; Maseko said.<\/p>\n<p>One of the housing projects in question is Forest Village, which affects 3 254 beneficiaries, while other communities include Eerste River, Mitchells Plain, Delft, Macassar, Kalbaskraal, Citrusdal, Swartland, Paarl and Kraaifontein.<\/p>\n<p>News24 previously reported the Western Cape government spent more than R215 million on security to protect key housing projects in the province.<\/p>\n<p>Simmers said on Wednesday:<\/p>\n<p>He added extortion, housing projects being invaded and units being damaged were robbing people of housing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\">South-Africa<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving almost 19 000 beneficiaries in the lurch. Human Settlements and Infrastructure MEC Tertius Simmers revealed this in a written reply to a question in the legislature posed by DA MPL and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":42650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[274,315,279,2372,355,275,3008,295],"class_list":["post-42651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-cape-town","tag-crime-and-courts","tag-housing","tag-south-africa-2","tag-tertius-simmers","tag-western-cape"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T20:03:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T20:52:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-11T20:03:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-11T20:52:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold\"},\"wordCount\":284,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"cape town\",\"crime and courts\",\"housing\",\"South-Africa\",\"tertius simmers\",\"western cape\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold\",\"name\":\"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-11T20:03:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-11T20:52:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold - South Africa","description":"A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold","og_description":"A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-01-11T20:03:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-11T20:52:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold","datePublished":"2023-01-11T20:03:23+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-11T20:52:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold"},"wordCount":284,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","cape town","crime and courts","housing","South-Africa","tertius simmers","western cape"],"articleSection":["all news","economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold","name":"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-11T20:03:23+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-11T20:52:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"A total of 25 housing projects in the Western Cape have been affected by extortionists over the last five years, leaving ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673454818.24.jpg","width":1440,"height":1080,"caption":"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/extortion-leaves-almost-19-000-western-cape-housing-beneficiaries-out-in-cold#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Extortion leaves almost 19 000 Western Cape housing beneficiaries out in cold"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}