Alex gogos plan to march to Frankenwald

The Speaker for the City of Johannesburg council, Colleen Makhubele has pledged her support to a proposed Alex gogos march to Frankenwald to demand the use of the land for proper housing for the township folk.

Makhubele recently visited Phuthaditjaba Community Centre in Alexandra to engage with dozens of elderly people on different issues affecting their lives.
A 75-year-old pensioner, Princess Sibanda told Makhubele about her daily challenges of living in an old dilapidated one-room house in Alexandra.

“We as Gogos of Alexandra have not enjoyed the benefits of our democracy. Our lives are miserable because we have no houses. We are crowded in one-room houses and shacks until today.
“We urge you speaker to go and tell the mayor that we want to have our own old age village where we can live in peace,” she said.

“We are forgotten by our own government that promised to build us houses but that promise has not been fulfilled until today. We thank you for visiting us and listening to us, now go and tell the mayor that we want our houses as elderly people of Alex,” Sibanda said.

Makhubele said she will take all the issues raised during the engagement and ensure that the issue of the retirement village is part of next year’s IDP.

She urged senior citizens to use the power of their vote in next year’s general elections to end their plights.
“Old people are often forgotten and neglected by those in government positions of power and only remembered when it’s election time. My visit here today was aimed at engaging them and finding out what bothers them the most. They asked me to help them with logistics during their march to Frankenwald as they want to meet the mayor there and I will definitely give them the support and the facilitation where it’s needed,” Makhubele said.

Related Article: Alex gogo pays tribute to the late Pick n Pay boss