Mercury: No homes, no vote threat

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4935269

No homes, no vote threat

April 15, 2009 Edition 2

Nompumelelo Magwaza & Samantha Blair

More than 300 residents of Siyanda, near Newlands in Durban, marched through KwaMashu yesterday, threatening not to vote in the elections unless the government did away with transit camps.

The camps comprise temporary shelters for people waiting to be placed in proper housing.

Siyanda shack dwellers’ spokesman, Bongani Ngwenya, also called on the government to provide them with houses in nearby areas.

A memorandum of their demands was handed over to provincial Housing Department officials.

Ngwenya said many people had lived in transit camps for more than five years, waiting for houses.

“We are asking the government to give us houses with proper electricity and sanitation. We also ask not to be moved away from the urban areas because we will lose our jobs.”

He said shack dwellers would not vote in the April 22 elections because it would be a “disgrace” to do so while they lived in transit camps.

eThekwini housing committee chairman Nigel Gumede called on the protesters to speak to the city.

“We have explained about transit camps to the Siyanda residents. They were told to wait while houses were being built,” he said.