Category Archives: Ntwaagae Seleka

Sowetan: ‘Our houses are all ready to fall down’

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=748143

‘Our houses are all ready to fall down’

15 April 2008

DANGER: Lucy Mahlangu and the collapsing wall. Photo: Len Kumalo

Maria Phakela peers through a gaping crack in her RDP house. It is so huge that she can see people passing in the street.

A resident of Sebokeng’s Zone 20, Phakela says dejectedly: “These houses are a danger to us and no matter how many times I repair it the cracks keep coming back.”

The cracks stretch from the roof to the floor.

The residents say their anger is a “time bomb waiting to explode”.

Last Thursday residents of the Zone 20 RDP houses staged a march to the Emfuleni local municipality office to hand in a memorandum of grievances.

They say the houses were built in the late 1990s and the workmanship is shoddy.

Residents also claim that the area is infested with snakes.

Motshehoa Tau, 26, who lives with her aunt, says: “When it gets windy it feels as if the house will be blown away. People have tried to fix their houses but it still does not help.”

Residents have now called for the immediate removal of their ward councillor, Madisebo Khomoasera, and during their march warned her not set foot in Zone 20.

“Our councillor is aware of the crisis but is doing nothing about it,” says Veronica Toli, 34, whose parents’ house also has cracks “So we need somebody who will look after our needs.”

Lucy Mahlangu, 25, says the walls inside her parents’ house could collapse any moment.

Mahlangu showed Sowetan the a wall separating the kitchen and bedroom. It looks as if it will collapse if given a firm push .

“How can our councillor expect us to live in such a hazardous house?” Mahlangu asks.

As representatives of Emfuleni at Thursday’s march, Johnny Thabane and Khomoasera promised to respond to the memorandum.

Sowetan: Give us houses or face revolt

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=746210

Give us houses or face revolt

Ntwaagae Seleka

HOUSING ANGER: Angry residents of Zone 20, Sebokeng, were yesterday chanting slogans against poor sevice delivery and accusing their local municipality of neglecting them. PHOTO: LEN KUMALO

Council given week’s ultimatum

Residents of Sebokeng in the Vaal have threatened to go on a rampage if their demands for better housing are not met by their local municipality.

Yesterday the residents handed a memorandum of grievances to the officials of Emfuleni municipality at the end of a protest march.

They said if their demands were not met within seven days “there will be chaos at Sebokeng Zone 20 RDP houses”.

Community leader Patrick Sindane said they were angered by the state of the RDP houses in the area.

Sindane said: “Those houses are a serious threat to the occupants because they may collapse at any time and we need the municipality to rebuild them immediately.”

He accused Eskom of removing electrical meter boxes from houses and replacing them with new ones without proper consultation with residents.

“Our area has now been infested with snakes because of an open veld in the neighbourhood. People’s lives are in danger and our ward councillor is aware but they are doing nothing,” said Sindane.

Marchers also accused their ward councillor Madisebo Khomoasera of ignoring their demands and called for her removal.

Representatives from Emfuleni, Eskom and Khomoasera accepted the memorandum and promised to respond soon.

The Sowetan: Residents’ protest goes up in flames

Hundreds of residents of the Thembelihle informal settlement, south of Johannesburg, barricaded the busy K43 road yesterday, demanding better living conditions.

The angry protesters blockaded the road using burning tyres, tree trunks and stones, bringing rush-hour traffic to a standstill.

Motorists were forced to use alternative routes after the K43 road was closed.

The protesters were demanding houses, electricity and improved sanitation in their poverty-stricken area.

They accused their ward councillor, Dan Bovu, of ignoring and neglecting their demands.

Things turned ugly yesterday morning when police fired rubber bullets and stungrenades in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

The angry protesters retaliated by throwing stones at the police. They went back and continued their demonstrations by blockading the road again.

Secretary of the Landless People’s Movement in the area, Phillip Phosa, said there were no improvements at Thembelihle.

Phosa said: “We voted for a better life in the area, but now our lives are a shambles.”

He said there were about 14000 people living in the informal settlement and “their lives had not improved”.

Another angry resident, Zodwa Gxashi, 45, said she was tired of living at Thembelihle.

She said: “Our children die daily, our shacks burn down because of the paraffin stoves and braziers that we are forced to use because it is freezing.”

Councillor Bovu was later seen inside a police armoured vehicle. He spent several hours locked inside, apparently fearing for his life while the demonstrators bayed for his blood.

Bovu told the media from inside the police vehicle that some parts of the area could not be developed because it was “dangerous”. He said because of this, only 3100 families would be relocated to Lehae, a few kilometres away from Thembelihle.

Residents later informed Johannesburg metro officials who were at the scene that they wanted to see the executive mayor, Amos Masondo, personally.

The community met late yesterday and appointed 10 people to represent them during their meeting with Masondo today, where their grievances will apparently be raised.

The police reported that no arrests were made and that they were monitoring the situation