Category Archives: Zandspruit

M&G: Zandspruit burns again

Leave a reply

http://mg.co.za/article/2011-06-30-zandspruit-burns-again

Zandspruit burns again
SIBONGILE NKOSI – Jun 30 2011 1

It’s early morning in Zandspruit and police are barricading one end of the road. At the other end, behind a blockade of trees, rocks and burning tyres, a mob of young and old emerge, singing struggle songs. The protest started at 3am and will not stop until their councillor addresses them.

“You see what we have to do to get the government to listen to us?” says Johannes Melley, as pointing to the rubbish and big rocks on the road.

It’s been two months since South African local government elections, and the community is fuming that no one has come to address them since. As they march they carry posters that are calling for councillor Maureen Schneeman to step down.

“Zuma said we should vote for the ANC and he will build us proper houses and electricity, but we haven’t heard anything from our councillor,” says Mpho Phansi.

Phansi has been living in Zandspruit since 1994 and been waiting for an RDP house all that time. He shows us his one-room shack where he lives with his family. In the same yard, he shares a toilet with about six families.

Back on the street, you can still see flames and smoke coming from burning of tyres and tree trunks. For many, Schneeman was not the preferred candidate; they wanted Steven Nhlapho, but don’t know what happened.

“Maureen lives in Sundowner, she doesn’t know life in a shack. We want her out,” says one of the teenagers.

It seems like the young people are the driving force of the protest. With all their energy and anger, they will not listen to any negotiations with the community committee.

One member of the Zandspruit committee comes to calm the crowd down by asking if they could have a formal meeting. A young man from the crowd says: “We are tired of meetings.”

Demonstrator Zanele Magwaza complains that she has been attending community meetings all her life, and they are often useless because nothing changes.

Apart from wanting Schneeman to step down, one of the burning issues that has spurred this episode is the construction of a taxi rank just down the road. “How can they start building a taxi rank, when people live in shacks?” she asks.

“I have been living here since I was born,” says Phillimon Kokong, “My mom has been waiting for an RDP house all her life. When are we going to stop living like monkeys?”

He picks up his loud hailer and goes to address the group.

For Kokong and his fellow residents, the protests will continue until they see the changes they want in Zandspruit.

The Times: No freedom yet in stinking Zandspruit

Leave a reply

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article1040386.ece/No-freedom-yet-in-stinking-Zandspruit

No freedom yet in stinking Zandspruit
Apr 27, 2011 9:58 PM | By AMUKELANI CHAUKE and CALEB MELBY

Thania Moyo has to walk for five minutes through densely packed shacks to use a neighbourhood toilet in the yard of a family friend.

Though the 16-year-old was born in a democratic South Africa, she says she is not sure what freedom means.

Moyo has spent her life of “freedom” sharing a tiny shack with her parents and sister Samantha, 15, in the Zandspruit informal settlement, northwest of Johannesburg.

“Life is tough for us. If I want to use the toilet at night, I must leave our shack and walk to my neighbour on the other side,” she said yesterday.

“It is not always safe because it is sometimes dark when the street lights are not working.”

For the past few weeks, residents have burned tyres and blockaded roads in protest against the lack of toilets and sewerage, drains, roads, refuse collection and electricity.

The area was calm yesterday. There was a heavy police presence and a police helicopter flew over the shacks.

“I cannot explain what Freedom Day means, but I don’t think this is it,” Moyo said.

“The government should build houses with toilets in the area because there is no privacy here.”

Across the settlement, David Majozi celebrated Freedom Day sick and unemployed.

The clinic in Zandspruit was closed for the holiday.

“The clinic is one of the hardest problems we face,” said Majozi, who has lived in the settlement for 27 years. “It is understaffed. It is too small.

“When it is open, the queue stretches forever. Even if you are very sick, they tell you ‘Go home; come back tomorrow’.”

Both of Majozi’s eyes are infected, and a bulbous tumour protrudes below his left eye.

He is one of many Zandspruit residents who feel disillusioned about the democracy that was to have made life better.

The sewerage cap at the clinic, like so many pipes throughout Zandspruit, leaks grey water into nearby shacks and onto the road, forming a stream that fills the paths between homes, and flows under the floor of some houses.

Some residents have placed bricks across their floors and paths to allow them to walk without stepping into the muck.

The streams run down to a reservoir that separates the informal settlement from neighbouring middle-class suburbs such as Honeydew and Sonnedal.

Danie Tsabo, who lives in a shack with his wife and four children, says toilets are in such high demand that some of his neighbours have padlocked theirs so that they have sole use of them.

As he spoke, Tsabo stared at a photograph of a house belonging to his former employer, who left South Africa in 2002.

“Even if I don’t get this house, I dream that one day I can move to a decent house with my family,” he said.

Christina Ralane applied for a house in 1996: “We are promised houses and nothing . but empty promises. Nothing gets better. ”

Protests in Zandspruit

Leave a reply

IOL have some pictures here.

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE72T33Z20110330

South African police fire rubber bullets at protesters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African police fired rubber bullets Wednesday at protesters in a shanty settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg demanding better living conditions.

The demonstrations come less than two months before local elections and point towards grassroots discontent among impoverished black voters towards the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

“The problem we have is with the councillor,” said one protester, who gave his name as Max. “We have been waiting for a long time. He has promised us development here in Zandspruit. Nothing has happened and there is no improvement.”

As with many squatter camps around Johannesburg, residents of Zandspruit live in squalid conditions, sharing toilets and communal taps, and with little or no electricity. A stone’s throw away sits some of Africa’s most expensive real estate.

In scenes reminiscent of the apartheid era, protesters and police fought running street battles amid burning tyre barricades. Police were pelted with stones, and responded with rubber bullets.

“The situation is tense. One policeman was slightly injured and we are not sure of casualties on the protesters’ side,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, a police spokesman. Several arrests were made.

In the last few weeks, five out of South Africa’s nine provinces have seen similar protests challenging the ruling party’s candidate selection.

The main gripe is that candidates have been chosen because of their ANC links rather than any ability to get things done.

The ANC has spent billions of dollars on infrastructure and social programs in the 17 years since the end of white minority rule, although millions of blacks still live in poverty and official unemployment runs at 25 percent.

(Reporting by John Mkhize and Peroshni Govender; Editing by Giles Elgood)

http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/03/31/anc-list-sparks-fury

ANC list sparks fury
31 Mar 2011 | Sibongile Mashaba

THE ANC remained unmoved yesterday over its nomination lists as violent protests flared in Zandspruit near Johannesburg.

Zandspruit informal settlement residents are demanding the removal of a councillor from the party’s candidate list.

The residents blame current councillor, Maureen Schneeman – who has been re-nominated – for lack of service delivery in the area. They claim their plea for houses, access to water and electricity have fallen on deaf ears.

Five people were injured when police fired rubber bullets at the protestors who went on a rampage, looting several businesses. A police officer was injured when protesters pelted law enforcers with stones.

“These people will be charged and released. We had scheduled a meeting with the community but no one came forward.

“The ANC Gauteng has closed the list process for candidates selection and names have been sent to the IEC. We don’t expect any disciplined member of the ANC to organise protests based on the selection of candidates,” said ANC Gauteng spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli.

“The closure of the process for selection of candidates necessitated that all cadres must focus on the critical task of winning local government elections.”

Ntuli said those who wanted to undermine the ANC processes through protests would “face the consequences”.

“No one should mobilise against the outcomes of the selection of candidates. Our candidates have been tested … they enjoy overwhelming support from members of the communities who participated enthusiastically in the selection process,” he said.

Ntuli said they believed that the protest was triggered by criminal elements.

Residents looted a supermarket and stole 150 crates of cool drinks worth R20000, acccording to shop owner, known only as Tony .

“It’s very unfortunate because I help the community a lot. I donate money to the creché and this is how they thank me,” Tony said.
The residents claim that:

* They have to walk about a kilometre to the main road and wait for an ambulance because ambulances won’t drive into their area.
* The crime rate is high. They say five people were murdered in the area in February alone.
* Toilets do not flush. It takes authorities three months to fix them, posing a health hazard.

Honeydew police’s Major General Oswald Reddy said 88 people had been arrested.

Johannesburg Emergency Services spokesperson Nana Radebe said paramedics could not drive into the area because it was difficult for them to locate addresses.

Political analyst Elvis Masoga said: “Communities thought they would have the last say on nominations but they were wrong. The ANC has failed to explain its policy of involving communities.”

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-03-30-dozens-arrested-in-honeydew-protest

Dozens arrested in Honeydew protest
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Mar 30 2011 16:57

A police officer was injured during a violent service delivery protest at the Zandspruit informal settlement near Honeydew, north-west of Johannesburg, on Wednesday, police said.

Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said the police officer was hit on the head with a stone and was slightly injured.

He dismissed reports that the police had lost a firearm during a stand-off with protesters.

“It is not true; we have verified it with all members — no one of them has lost a firearm,” he said, describing the situation as being tense.

Public violence

He said 88 people had been arrested for public violence.

Zandspruit informal settlement residents blocked the road with rocks and burning tyres shortly before 6am in a protest over service delivery.

The police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd when they were pelted with stones.

Television footage showed protesters throwing stones at a police armoured vehicle near a bridge.

Johannesburg metro police said Beyers Naude Drive had been closed to traffic.

“There are still rocks and tyres on the road. It has not been cleared yet,” Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said on Wednesday afternoon.

Traffic on Beyers Naude Drive and Peter Road had been diverted to other roads. — Sapa