Category Archives: Diepsloot

The Star: Rich Tokyo spends night among poor

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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20090804031925973C101871

Rich Tokyo spends night among poor
Xolani Mbanjwa
August 04 2009 at 05:48AM

Tokyo Sexwale, the Minister of Human Settlements and one of the country’s richest men, has spent the night in Diepsloot, north-west of Joburg.

Monday night’s experience was meant to acquaint Sexwale with the hardships faced by millions of South Africans living in informal settlements.

It marked the first of many visits Sexwale plans to make to informal settlements on a nationwide fact-finding mission to uncover the reasons behind the service delivery protests that rocked the country and to assess the massive backlog in housing.

Sexwale will visit Joe Slovo informal settlement and Khayelitsha in Cape Town on Thursday.

He will also visit settlements in Bloemfontein and Durban.

Sexwale’s choice of Diepsloot was in response to the violent protests that erupted two weeks ago when angry residents of the densely populated informal settlement – home to an estimated 150 000 people – torched a police vehicle, stoned cars and burnt tyres in the streets after being told they would be shifted to Adelaide, another settlement nearby.

Although many shack dwellers who met Sexwale on Monday told him they did not want to move to another area, he was adamant that they would have to relocate because their shacks were built on top of a “dangerous” water pipeline.

Sexwale – himself born in an informal settlement in Soweto – appealed to community leaders, including taxi associations, religious leaders and business owners, whom he met in Diepsloot on Monday to be patient with the government’s roll-out of low-cost houses and services.

He told community leaders he wanted to see people’s living conditions and talk to residents himself so that the government could come up with a better plan for housing.

The economic downturn, unemployment, migration from rural areas, corruption and fraud were among the reasons Sexwale gave as causing the proliferation of informal settlements.

“We are on a sincere listening campaign to have a proper discussion about the lives of the poor. I came here to sleep among them (shack dwellers) to experience how they live.”

o This article was originally published on page 7 of The Star on August 04, 2009

The Times: More protests flare over lack of services

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Diepsloot is not an AbM settlement. Click here for video footage.

http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=1032366

More protests flare over lack of services
Charles Molele Published:Jul 12, 2009

‘They want to dump us in another slum without clean water, electricity or sanitation’
Huge shack settlement latest to ignite over government’s poor delivery record

“We are going nowhere,” yelled 34-year-old Selby Mukovhanama as he waved a panga in defiance of a government plan to dismantle the Diepsloot, Johannesburg, shack settlement he calls home.

His was just one face of the anger felt by those repeatedly left out when the government extends housing and services to another desperate community.

“They want to dump us in another slum without clean water, electricity and sanitation,” Mukovhanama said. “We are not going anywhere. If we do move, it must be to decent RDP houses.”

Last Sunday, Mukovhanama joined hundreds of residents protesting plans to relocate them to informal settlements in the region. They burned tyres and furniture, and barricaded roads with rocks. Several cars were stoned, and shops that belonged to Pakistani nationals were set alight and looted.

Community Policing Forum member Mahlatse Molobela laid part of the blame at the door of local ANC councillor Jan Mahlangu.

“During elections he came and made promises about clean water, electricity and roads. But now he is unavailable when we want to meet him and resolve these issues,” said Molobela.

Residents insist they have been told they must move, but on Friday the City of Johannesburg denied it wanted to relocate the residents.

The government has built about 4900 RDP houses in Diepsloot — now home to more than 150000 people.

Residents told the Sunday Times that since the government moved them from the banks of the Jukskei River in Alexandra as part of former president Thabo Mbeki’s Urban Renewal Project, officials had neglected the area.

Roads are in total disrepair and a putrid smell hangs in the air from the broken sewerage system. At Extension One, where the violent protests took place last Sunday, close to 100 residents, men and women share a single toilet that often does not work.

Taps are often dry and residents say the tanks provided by officials are contaminated.

“I won’t let my kids drink from that tank,” said Sam Makgoba. “ We need proper running water and modern sanitation.”

The Diepsloot protests were the latest in service delivery demonstrations which have surged around the country recently.

Last week, residents of Piet Retief in Mpumalanga went on the rampage after accusing the Mkhondo municipality of financial mismanagement, corruption in the allocation of housing, and a lack of basic services. Two protesters died during the protests. On Tuesday, angry residents in Dinokana near Zeerust, North West, took to the streets in a protest about water provision.

ANC spokesman Jessie Duarte denied that communities across the country were growing impatient with the government’s poor service delivery.

“We can’t generalise and say there’s unhappiness all around,” she said. “Where there are problems, we have provincial leaders and branches directly intervening and looking at the substance and nature of the problem.”

— molelec@sundaytimes.co.za

Jo’burg: Empty promises spark protest

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Click here to see pictures from the protest.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20090706060754336C149753

Empty promises spark protest
6 July 2009, 06:26

By Poloko Tau and Jacques Breytenbach

Diepsloot was plunged into darkness on Sunday night after a housing protest turned violent.

Roads were barricaded with burning tyres and furniture, large rocks littered the streets, and on several occasions, police resorted to firing rubber bullets at the unruly crowd. Criminals took advantage of the chaos as they looted shops.

On the fringes of the area, a business owner cried: “All my things are gone. They have taken everything.”

The protest, which started around 10am, was held to demonstrate dissatisfaction over the allocation of houses and the fact that some of the shack dwellers were once again being moved, this time to an informal settlement in Brits, north-west of Pretoria.

On the other side of the township, a group threatened to torch the local councillor’s house, which remained under police guard last night.

A police helicopter hovered over the sprawling township monitoring several hotspots, where groups of residents ran around singing and stoning police cars. A senior police officer’s car was stoned near the satellite police station in Extension 6 where residents had converged, asking the police to arrange for their councillor to address them.

The situation remained volatile as police continued to patrol several hotspots including the busy R511, where several cars passing by were stoned or had windows smashed by angry residents.

Diepsloot came about when many shack dwellers were moved from Alexandra to a new area near Fourways, where they said they were promised that houses would be built for them. More than 10 years later, residents say they have yet to see the promised housing.

Residents on Sunday said they were angered after they were informed that they were going to be moved again to make way for new developments.

“We’ll only move out of shacks when we get new houses that we were promised,” said Martina Matlaila.

Another resident, Mpho Letsoalo, said the community had taken to the streets because the councillor would not address them on housing issues. “Some residents are asking for the government to prepare land around here and give them stands so that they can build their own houses but that, too, won’t happen,” Letsoalo said. “People here are fed up with empty promises by the government.”

SAPS spokesperson Inspector Daniel Mavimbela said police had managed to contain the situation in Diepsloot and were going to continue monitoring it last night. No arrests were made and no one had been reported injured.

* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on July 06, 2009

Jo’burg: Eight held during Diepsloot protests

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Click here to see pictures from the protest.

http://www.themercury.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20090706075322141C907673

Eight held during Diepsloot protests

6 July 2009, 08:16
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* Empty promises spark protest

Eight people were arrested on Monday following violent protests in Diepsloot, Johannesburg police said.

“We arrested eight men at 2am this morning (Monday), just before the situation calmed down,” Inspector Daniel Mavimbele said.

The eight were arrested for public violence after Sunday night’s housing protest by hundreds of residents.

According to IOL, roads were barricaded with burning tyres and furniture, large rocks were placed on the streets, and protesters stoned cars. Shops in the area were also looted.

The protest began at 10am. It was held to demonstrate dissatisfaction over the allocation of houses and the fact that some of the shack dwellers were once again being moved — this time to an informal settlement in Brits, north-west of Pretoria.

They also demanded electricity.

It was reported that a group also threatened to torch the local councillor’s house, which remained under police guard last night.

A police helicopter was also sent to the area to monitor hotspots.

Mavimbele said that the situation was “calm for now”, but protests may start again later in the day, if the protesters demands were not met.

“A heavy police presence remains in Diepsloot,” he said. – Sapa