[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Soshanguve protest

[Patrick Bond]

'Give us homes ... or face our wrath'
        Graeme Hosken
    September 25 2007 at 07:16AM

Heritage Day in Pretoria was marred by a series of violent protests 
sparked by poor service delivery.

Police fired rubber bullets on Soshanguve demonstrators less than 24 
hours after the township's residents gave council officials two weeks to 
provide them with houses and better service delivery.

Early Monday morning, more than 600 Mamelodi residents stormed a section 
of land near Nellmapius that had been earmarked for RDP housing.

The protesters threatened to destroy the 2 000 houses built on the land 
if they did not get them.

'We are tired of being patient'
The council is in the process of building 3 600 RDP houses along Hans 
Strijdom Drive between Nellmapius and Mamelodi.

Mamelodi's Phase 1 extension residents said they would demonstrate until 
the council conceded to their demands.

Group leader Sisco Seabi said they were tired of the council's excuses. 
"We want our houses now. Council has been promising houses to us for 
years but we are still waiting," he said.

Seabi said they had heard that there was a waiting list but they had yet 
to see it.

"We keep on hearing about this waiting list and are told that we must be 
patient.

"We are tired of being patient, especially when people from other areas 
get these new houses," he said.

Seabi said they would continue to occupy the land even if they had to fight.

"What is happening is not fair. It is not right," he said.

Phase 1 resident Francina Tshabalala said she desperately wanted a house.

"I need a proper house for my children. We are living in poverty and my 
children are always sick.

"We cannot live like this. I am going to fight for a house.

"I will die if it means my children will have a house," she said.

Abraham Mmopane said he had been waiting for a house since 1994.

"I am tired of waiting. I want my home now. It is what we were 
promised," he said.

Mmopane said he was tired of living in a shack.

"My shack leaks and it is cold at night. I have no place to cook food 
for my children and they have no bedroom to sleep in," he said.

Yelling at one of the new homeowners Agnes Shiloda, Mmopane said she did 
not deserve the house because she was not from the area.

"It is not fair. Council is selling the houses to outside people," he 
said. Shiloda received her house for free and only had to pay R50 for 
her water and electricity connection.

However, she thought so little of her new house that she said the "land 
invaders" could have it.

"They (the houses) are too small. They are not nice.

"I do not know how people are meant to live in them," she said.

Tshwane Metro Police spokesperson William Baloyi confirmed the 
demonstrations saying that, in Soshanguve, police had opened fire on 
more than 200 protesters who had blockaded roads.

"When the people refused to disperse, we had no choice but to use force 
to clear them from the roads," he said, adding that one suspect had been 
arrested for public violence.

Baloyi said that after a tense stand-off in Nellmapius, police persuaded 
demonstrators to leave.

He said police were going to be monitoring the situation and would 
maintain a high police presence in both areas.

"We are not going to let people disrupt services and take over homes. 
Anyone trying to make trouble will be arrested," he said, adding that 
they were expecting further demonstrations this week.

Sonto Thipe, health and social development MMC, appealed to people to be 
patient and said everyone would get a house, "eventually".

"We have a list which we are working through and everyone will 
eventually get a house."



          o This article was originally published on page 2 of Pretoria 
News on September 25, 2007