‘We want houses’
Residents who say are tired of waiting took on the street of the township from Sunday
Residents of Ekuthuleni Informal Settlement in KwaThema took to the streets of the township for two days.
The burning tyres and the stones used to block some of the roads by the angry residents on Sunday and Monday were some of the ways to show their anger about the poor service delivery in their area.
The riot ended with 11 people being arrested on Sunday and appearing in the Springs Regional Court on Tuesday.
According to the Springs police spokesman, Captain Johannes Ramphora, following their brief appearance in court, they were released as the case was not placed on the cases’ roll.
“This means the end of the case and they are now free,” said Ramphora.
Musa Ndlangamandla, chairman of the community committee, said residents are complaining about the development in their area that stopped years ago with no-one explaining to the residents about the reason that led to the stoppage of the project.
He said the community understands that 400 RDP houses were to be built in Ekuthuleni but since 2007 only 84 houses have been built.
“After six years, people who occupy the 84 houses still live in the dark as they are still waiting for electricity,” said Ndlangamandla, adding that they also demand that the metro gives the occupants title deeds to ensure their ownership.
Residents are also demanding to be allocated to land to occupy while waiting for it to be developed.
Muzi Ngada, community committee secretary, said residents are also not happy about their ward councillor’s style of leadership.
“When invited to a meeting called by the community, the ward councillor does not attend,” said a frustrated Ngada.
He continued to say that the ward councillor refuses to work with the ward committee because of their differences in political affiliations.
Responding to the allegations by the residents, ward 78 councillor Thoko Radebe denied receiving any invitation to a meeting called by the residents and that she never refused to work with the ward committee because of their political affiliation.
“As the ward councillor, I work with everyone within my ward to bring development to the people irrespective of their political affiliations,” said Radebe.
