We are tired of waiting

Just two days before the country was due to vote in the national elections, residents in Gugulethu/Everest took to the streets in a demonstration of their dissatisfaction with poor service delivery in the area.

Residents, who are unhappy about the protracted wait to be moved to new houses in Payneville, where toilets have already been built, led to many threatening to boycott yesterday’s elections.

Although the construction of the toilets has been completed, the toilets were vandalised with most of the window and door frames being stolen and residents have not been moved into the area.

According to the metro spokesman Lebogang Ramashala, this was because the metro was waiting for a court order to move these residents to the promised area.

The order was expected to be handed down on April 23 or 24, but nothing has come of it yet.

In reaction to the upheaval, Ekurhuleni’s member of the mayoral committee for community safety, Nthuthuzeli Sibosa addressed the residents on Tuesday morning to hear their grievances.

Upheaval

The unrest broke out at around 4am, on Monday in Gugulethu/Everest resulting in the road being closed and motorists being diverted away from the troubled area.

By 8am, the Springs Community Centre in Welgedacht Road, Bakerton had been set alight.

Springs police spokesman Captain Johannes Ramphora says police officials from different police stations and units in Gauteng, were deployed on Tuesday, and their presence was noticeable.

On Monday a section of Welgedacht Road was blocked off from First Avenue to Enstrada Road, but on Tuesday it was open again for public use.

Rocks and burning tyres which were used to block the road on Monday, were cleared by the metro’s parks department on Tuesday morning.

Deployed police vehicles and EMPD officials on horseback were seen patrolling the area on Tuesday.

An Addie journalist arrived on the scene at 7.40am on Monday to investigate.

It was not long after she arrived that stones were thrown at her and she was called names and was told to leave.

As she was leaving, the police used teargas to disburse the crowd who gathered closer to Enstrada Road on Monday.

Although things seem to have quietened down by Tuesday morning, residents gathered at the Gugulethu/Everest sports grounds in protest of the alleged arrests of a number of people on Tuesday.

Ramphora says one man was arrested for malicious damage to property on Monday while another group of people was arrested on Tuesday.

He was concerned about the special voting for senior citizens that was suppose to take place in the area on Monday and Tuesday from 7.30am to 5pm.

According to him, as of Tuesday morning, no special voting had taken place.

On Monday there were rumours that an IEC tent had been burned down but Ramphora was unable to confirm this and the paper could not reach the IEC offices for their comment.

At the time of going to press, the results of the meeting between Sibosa and the community was not known.