[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Siyanda housing protest yesterday

[Patrick Bond]

No homes, no vote threat
April 15, 2009 Edition 2

Nompumelelo Magwaza & Samantha Blair

More than 300 residents of Siyanda, near Newlands in Durban, marched 
through KwaMashu yesterday, threatening not to vote in the elections 
unless the government did away with transit camps.

The camps comprise temporary shelters for people waiting to be placed in 
proper housing.

Siyanda shack dwellers' spokesman, Bongani Ngwenya, also called on the 
government to provide them with houses in nearby areas.

A memorandum of their demands was handed over to provincial Housing 
Department officials.

Ngwenya said many people had lived in transit camps for more than five 
years, waiting for houses.

"We are asking the government to give us houses with proper electricity 
and sanitation. We also ask not to be moved away from the urban areas 
because we will lose our jobs."

He said shack dwellers would not vote in the April 22 elections because 
it would be a "disgrace" to do so while they lived in transit camps.

eThekwini housing committee chairman Nigel Gumede called on the 
protesters to speak to the city.

"We have explained about transit camps to the Siyanda residents. They 
were told to wait while houses were being built," he said.