[ad_1]
Land occupiers say they want water, toilets and electricity, but the city of Cape Town says the land on which people have settled is not suitable.
First Posted by GroundUp
- The land occupants of the new settlements in Cape Town on Thursday blocked the N2 and other main roads, demanding water, electricity and toilets.
- Students and workers were left without transportation.
- Three buses and a truck were burned.
- The protesters said that at least two people were injured by rubber bullets.
- The city says the occupants have moved onto land that is unfit for habitation.
Protest land occupiers blocked Cape Town’s roads with burning tires on Thursday, leaving hundreds of students and workers without transportation.
A police officer snatched a tire from the protesters, prompting one to yell, “Shoot us. Where is the mayor?
Mew Way in Khayelitsha was closed to traffic when protesters clashed with police. Cape Town City Traffic Spokesperson Kevin Jacobs said protesters also closed the N2 entrance, the N2 exit near Borcherds Quarry, the R300, Japhta K Masemola and Baden Powell.
On Baden Powell Drive, near the informal settlement of Empolweni, two buses and a truck caught fire, according to Cape Town law enforcement spokesman Wayne Dyson.
A Golden Arrow spokesperson said three buses caught fire, but no injuries were reported.
“The police fired rubber bullets at us and hit an elderly man with a limp in the eye as he made his way to a nearby farm. I was not even participating in the protest, ”said protester Bathandwa Gali.
Gali added: “We are not burning government buildings, buses and cars. We are only burning tires to get attention. “
Sub-council 10 chairman Patrick Mngxunyeni tried to calm the protesters. “I am trying to facilitate a meeting between the neighbors and the mayor. We have tried in vain to get the city of Cape Town to respond to your demands. Instead of waiting for the answer, now we want them to go directly to the mayor. “
Mngxunyeni said the protest affected local businesses and prevented residents from going to work outside of Khayelitsha.
About two weeks ago, land occupiers protested in front of the sub-council’s offices at the Khayelitsha Training Center, demanding water, toilets and electricity.
“It breaks our hearts to see our children struggling to find a place to relieve themselves and water to wash their hands during the coronavirus pandemic,” said community leader Siphiwo Sopili. “When we complain about a lack of water, the City says we are out of service.”
Bronagh Hammond, from the Western Cape Education Department, said the violent demonstrations affected main routes to several schools.
“WCED is concerned about the [matric] candidates who have difficulties reaching their examination centers as a result of a protest action affecting various trafficking routes. Our concern is particularly for 12th grade students who are currently writing math. We call on communities to consider the candidates and their future. They have been through a lot this year and such actions have extreme consequences for these students, ”said Hammond.
Community leader Bongile Zanazo said: “Our protest is a success. By closing key roads, we have disrupted economic activity here. Even business owners were unable to travel on the N2 to the airport to catch their flights today. We interrupt economic activity because that is where our protests hurt the City the most ”.
Community leader Mabhelandile Twani said the Cabin pain Movement (“The plight of the shack dwellers”), a newly formed organization set up to advance the provision of basic services in the newly occupied areas, had organized the closure of Khayelitsha.
“Our demands for water, sanitation and electricity have no answer. We protested at Thusong Community Center, Khayelitsha Training Center and Khayelitsha Administrative Offices, but it turned out that we spoke to the deaf, ”he said.
Twani promised that the protesters would close all city offices in Khayelitsha.
“We closed the roads so that the business community complains to the City and forces it to meet our demands. It’s been six months without water, toilets and electricity. We see ourselves treated as outsiders or not as people who belong to South Africa. We are treated like animals, under the difficult period of Covid-19 ”.
The protesters were mostly those who had moved to new informal settlements, such as Level Two, Covid Village, Ethembeni, Empolweni, Island, Gushindoda, Pandemic, and Dubai, at the beginning of the Covid-19 shutdown.
Councilor Malusi Booi, a member of the Mayor’s Committee on Human Settlements, said the City had explained “for months” that it could not “provide immediate services, if at all” to all newly formed settlements at the expense of services. existing and budgeted programs. “The City does not have unlimited resources,” he said.
Booi said most of the land occupations were in places that were not suitable for habitation, such as flood-prone wetlands, low-lying areas, “and even in water retention ponds or on the slopes of loose, sandy soil , a natural reserve that will be eroded by the wind … The City has repeatedly advised people not to settle in these areas ”.
“While we respect the right of individuals to peacefully protest, the City of Cape Town will not tolerate intimidation, violence and destruction of public and private property and violations of the rights of law-abiding residents,” Booi said.
Western Cape Police spokesman Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana confirmed that “about three buses and one truck” were burned. No arrests have been made, he said. DM
