Residents of Thulasizwe – a semi-rural community of no fewer than 200 families on the farm Tamboekiesfontein about 10km east of Kathorus – claim they have become the forgotten “step-children” of the City of Ekurhuleni.
The community is made up of mainly elderly folks, many of them old-age pensioners, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Most of them are second, third and even fourth-generation descendants of the first seven families who were employed as farmhands by the maize farmer, Fanie Boshoof, at the turn of the 20th century (1900s ), east of what is today the township of Vosloorus.
According to the older residents of the settlement, the rest of the inhabitants were children of people who were former labourers at a brick-factory near Vlakplaas, which is behind an area today known as Paradise Park.
Twice a week, the municipality of Ekurhuleni replenishes the huge green communal water reservoir at the entrance of the settlement with fresh drinking water. The residents use the water for cooking, drinking, ablution and washing. And at least once a week, their municipality-supplied mobile toilets units also get emptied and cleaned by the municipality.
Local primary school learners get a free school bus service that ferries them to and from a nearby school at the nearby Montic dairy farm school, less than a kilometre away. The school was started by the dairy owner to cater for the children of his farmworkers. Known as Montic Primary, the school now also accommodates primary low graders from the nearby informal settlement of Zonkizizwe and Magagula Heights.
A second school, Ithuba High School, which went up to Grade 12, and offered learners technical skills, was discontinued. The school also used to cater for high school learners from surrounding farms and informal settlements.
But following the closure of Ithuba High, all high school learners from the settlement and nearby farm now have to pay for private transport to school. This has led to many local learners in high school being forced to relocate and live with family friends and relatives in Katlehong, Thokoza and Vosloorus.
Thulasizwe is the only informal settlement in Ekurhuleni that does not have a spaza-shop, a shopping centre or even a taxi rank. And since there are less than half-a-dozen people who own vehicles in the settlement, most resident walk the distances of
about two kilometres to the nearest spaza shop in Zonkizizwe, or take a 10 km taxi ride to the Chris Hani Shopping Mall in Vosloorus.
The unelectrified settlement of Thulasizwe is a maze of crisscrossing footpaths, sideways and pathways that lead to different sections of the closely-knit semi-rural community. In summer when enough natural light is provided by the element such as the stars and the moon at night, most residents simply sit outside around the open fire in their lapa and talk about their fears, their hopes and their dreams about the future of Thulasizwe.
And with unemployment figures in the combined townships of Katlehong, Thokoza and Vosloorus said to be at their highest, residents of Thulasizwe, estimate the number of employed residents in the settlement at “almost zero” percent. The lack of basic amenities such as electricity and running water makes Thulasizwe one of the poorest and most backward informal settlements in the City of Ekurhukleni.
Residents of the settlement interviewed by Kathorus MAIL painted a gloomy picture of the future of the settlement many of them have come to know as home over decades. They said they have known and endured nothing but the pain and misery of deprivation and the threats of eviction for as long as they can remember.
Some of the older residents who have spent their entire life on the settlement, described their nomadic living conditions as pathetic, and that the year of change and democracy in 1994 yielded nothing for them. “Nothing has changed for us in the almost 25 years of democracy in South Africa,”lamented Sipho Ntyinga, an 84-year-old man.
Like many others on the settlement, Ntyinga says his concern is the fear that the community could be resettled elsewhere, away from the place many of them have come to know as their only home. “We want proper RDP houses on our existing stands,” said Ntyinga and his wife, Agnes Rapolokoane.
Some of the residents of Thulasizwe said they have lived under the threat of eviction from their settlement, not from the former white farm owners, but from the different Ward councillors.
“The latest and most recent threat was when we were informed that we would be evicted in 2021 to make room for industrial development in the area,” said community leader and spokesperson, Gert Motaung.
“Why must the government evict us? Why can’t they let us continue to live here and then bring industries to improve job creation possibilities for the local people,” said Motaung.
Local residents said the lack of infrastructural development and the non-existence of basic but crucial facilities were a major drawback for the local community. They said they wished to remain in their settlement rather to be relocated elsewhere
“We are pleading with the municipality of Ekurhuleni and the government to use Thulasizwe as the an example of how land transfer settlement deal can be done,” explained Motaung. He claimed the settlement was donated to the residents by the Boshoff family who owned the farm.
Approached by Kathorus MAIL for comment, local Ward Clr Elvis Ngobe referred the newspaper to the Metro’s media liaison department. “Even if I may have information about the settlement, but I prefer you speak directly to the municipality’s spokesperson. We are not allowed to issue statements on such matters,” replied Ngobe.
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