Residents of Extension Nine and 10, took to the streets on Monday, to demand feedback from their previous march and damage caused which includes traffic lights at the Extension 15 taxi rank.
When the delegation from the Department of Human Settlement in Ekurhuleni, and their councillor did not provide the response they were anticipating, some residents went on a rampage.
The community expressed dissatisfaction with what they called ‘false promises’ made to them, during their march to Faranani Multipurpose Centre last month, where they handed over a memorandum to Zinzile Nxesi on behalf of the city.
Some residents were sent on Monday morning to arrange for the ward 86 councillor, Clr Phindile Mbonani, to come address residents, while others started with the business of burning tyres and blocking roads in their area. Captain Petros Mabuza, Tsakane police spokesman said a rumour spread around the community that, ‘it was discovered that Ext 10 doesn’t exist in the Ekurhuleni Metro’s database’ and residents were not impressed.
By midday on Monday it was clear those barricading roads would not stop as they started to move out of their area, burning veld grass, with threats of burning their clinic.
Arriving under heavy police guard, all Tsakane ward councillors and housing employees met with the residents at the Ext 10 sports ground, to try set the record straight.
Dolly Ndwandwe was the first resident to speak, she asked, “Where does Ext 10 belong, and what happened to the promises made to us before we voted?”
Human settlement regional executive manager Eddie Nkomotse said Ext 10 residents have nothing to worry about as they do appear in the metro’s books.
“I was there when we moved you from Germiston because of the disaster in the area, and we have a plan for you,” he added.
That only provided temporary relief as the group quickly moved to their next questions of where and when they would occupy their new houses.
Eddie responded by informing residents that ‘the process has started and people have to fill in their housing subsidy forms’, and he said that it was clear that information from meetings does not reach people.
Unhappy with Eddie not giving them an exact date of when these promises would be fulfilled, they turned to their councillor for answers.
Mbonani reiterated what was said and told residents to wait for a report-back.
The delegates then left in the police Nyala which escorted them in, with unsatisfied residents pelting the vehicle with stones.
Mabuza said it was mostly the youth, some with ‘their own criminal elements’ who caused havoc, as police spent Monday evening trying to bring law and order back into the community.
“They continued to throw stones at Tsakane police who were assisted by public order police from Springs, forcing the officers to retaliate with teargas,” he said.
Mabuza added that cases of public violence were opened, because two foreign-owned shops were looted, and they appeal to residents with information to assist them in making arrests.
