RAMMOLUTSI REHATAMMOHO CRISIS COMMITTEE (RRCC) – FREE STATE
Press Statement
Sunday 8th May 2011
WE ALSO HAVE OPEN TOILETS!
ANC IS NOT BUILDING OUR COMMUNITY.
As a very poor community, we in Rammolutsi have been suffering from the broken promises of our ANC-run municipality for many years. Besides the fact that most of us here continue to live in shacks despite the repeated promises to build RDP houses, we were glad when the Moqhaka Municipality began to build flush toilets next to our shacks back in the early 2000s. Since that time however, we have been fighting to get the municipality to properly enclose the more than 1500 toilets and have been raising our voices regularly around the unhygienic conditions, general water problems as well as high crime rates in our community. Hardly anyone has been listening though.
Recently, we were happy to hear about the Cape Town courts ordering the DA-run Metro to enclose the open toilets in the Makhaza community but we also noted that it has been the ANC that has claimed it would never do that in poor communities where it is in power. What hypocrites! Have we been forgotten because we are not on the ANC’s political radar, because no one seems to care about the poor in far-away and forgotten places like Rammolutsi? Why are our lives any less important than others?
We had hoped that given the upcoming local government elections, things might change. But in each and every election our hopes have been dashed. Instead we have experienced a councillor nomination process that is forcing unpopular candidates onto us and ANC politicians coming into our community demanding that we vote for them. How can we remain silent when we not only suffer from the indignity of open toilets, but our community is wracked with violent crime, a massive unemployment level and generally bad services all-round? Now that a complaint has been laid with the Human Rights Commission about the open toilets we see that national ANC politicians are beginning to pay attention. Words are not enough! We want action!
For further information contact RRCC representative
Bramage Sekete @ 071 024 8768