Freedom Square residents feel their human rights are being violated
The residents recently gathered in the squatter camp with their street committee leaders to tackle housing issues they face.
Residents of Freedom Square informal settlement are fed up about poor services in Ward 100 and feel their human rights are violated by the City of Ekurhuleni.
The local residents recently met their street committees to seek answers to issues they were unhappy about.
Their complaints included, among others, the poor state of facilities in the area, high voltage cables that pose a threat to safety, unfair housing allocation, the inability of Ward 100 councillor to meet their demands and the RDP houses they rightly believe belong to them but are allocated to foreign nationals.
The locals said they felt the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality was not taking their grievances seriously. They have held peaceful protests to raise their concerns.
Residents have appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the National Human Settlement Department to visit the informal settlement and see for themselves what the residents have to put up with.
“We are tired and feel helpless because of the corruption in our ward. We do no longer know who to turn to anymore. Our complaints fall on deaf ears. Our municipality allocates RDP houses to young people and does nothing for the elderly and disabled,” said Kgaugelo Matseba.
Matseba, born in the squatter camp, said her parents are still waiting for their RDP. She said they registered for the house in 1991, but 27 years later they are still on the waiting list.
“The way things are done in our ward, I have lost hope that one day I will have a proper shelter. Nepotism is practised. Some people get preferential treatment, and are fetched straight from their shacks to get appointed into positions while others submit CVs and never hear anything from the officials,” claimed Matseba.
She said the municipality should consider giving them stands to build proper houses instead of having to wait for a long period of time without any prospect of getting RDP houses.
Another resident Lucas Mahlangu (70) said he registered for a house in October 1996, but he is still waiting.
“I have been living at Freedom Square since 1993 hoping that one day I will own my house and leave a property for my children when I die. But it seems I will die in my shack,” said Mahlangu.
Resident Anna Motaung (49) is blind. She appeals to the government to provide them with proper human basic services including sanitation, shelter and electricity.
“We are suffering on daily basis. When it rains our situation becomes worse,” added Motaung.
A Zimbabwean elderly woman who registered for a house in 1995, said she was told by officials her RDP house was in Zimbabwe.
“The xenophobia we experience in South Africa is unbearable. I have spent almost all my life in this country, but I am regarded as nobody,” she said.
The residents threatened that if the president and the Human Settlement Departments fail to heed their call, they will not vote for the ANC.
“We cannot continue voting for the party that does not care for us,” said angry residents.
At the time of going to print, the City of Ekurhuleni had not given their side of the story.
