The recent protest by residents of Kwazenzele Informal Settlement came to a halt last Wednesday.
Residents took to the streets for two weeks and blocked off the road with cement blocks and burning tyres to show their dissatisfaction with the Lesedi Municipality.
Their request to see the mayor wasn’t meant for the Ekurhuleni mayor, but instead for the mayor of Lesedi Councillor Lerato Maloka.
Although Kwazenzele falls under Lesedi Municipality, the Springs police attended to the scene where it was tense for a while.
Lesedi Municipality’s spokesman, Arthur Thokoane, says the residents allegedly threatened to barricade the road every day until their demands are met, but everything is now back to normal.
Springs police spokesman Captain Johannes Ramphora, says 18 people were arrested and charged with public violence.
The residents’ dissatisfaction goes back to 2008.
According to Thokoane it was then that the Department of Housing promised to build the KwaZenzele phase two development houses.
“To date the residents are dissatisfied with the progress of this project,” he says.
The residents raised other matters as well during the recent protest.
“They want a cashier to be employed from the community in Kwazenzele, which was done,” he says.
He claims their request to deal with the backlogs of the roads infrastructure is a difficult matter to deal with bacuase, according to Thokoane, the municipal infrastructure grant funding received from national government was cut resulting in cash constraints in Lesedi.
Another of their demands was that the residents should be employed by the municipality.
Thokoane says the residents threatened to go to the Endicott Clinic Community Centre to damage it, but to date they haven’t received any report of any damage.
