Protests for services cause morning traffic havoc
A SERIES of service delivery protests in and around Cape Town which have caused havoc for morning commuters could continue until Friday.
The protests are organised by a movement calling themselves Intlungu yaseMatyotyombeni (Pain of the Slums), made up of people in informal settlement areas neglected during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They blockaded roads around Khayelitsha yesterday, demanding water, temporary toilets, electricity and waste removal.
The chairperson of the movement, Xoliswa Tsholoba, said they could not be without services for 10 months and be expected to be healthy citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tsholoba said the threats and eviction orders needed to stop.
“We are not from any other country … we are South African citizens.”
While stones were thrown at vehicles passing Makhaza, Khayelitsha, along Baden Powell Drive, several areas were blocked with burning tyres.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said the police had their hands full trying to quell a number of service delivery protests that saw major roads, including the N2 highway, closed.
Potelwa said that when police approached the groups of protesters they scattered in different directions, only to gather again afterwards.
“Burning tyres and rubble on the roads resulted in road closures and the diversion of traffic,” said Potelwa.
Water and Waste Mayco member Xanthea Limberg said the City provided basic water and sanitation services, such as toilets and taps, to informal settlements across Cape Town where possible.
Limberg said providing services was a challenge when, due to unlawful occupation, residents settled on land that was not suitable for the installation of such services.
“The City is also not allowed to install services on privately-owned land without permission and in these instances can only install services on the periphery, on City-owned land,” said Limberg.
She said the City would continue to work closely with ward councillors and informal settlement leadership structures to unlock additional opportunities for provision of basic water and sanitation where it was possible to do so.
ANC Dullah Omar regional secretary Vuyiso Tyhalisisu said the shutdown protests across the City were an indication of the overwhelming frustration that ordinary people on the Cape Flats feel “with the DA’s arrogance and incompetence”.
DA provincial leader Bonginkosi Madikizela said the protests in Khayelitsha did not seem to be related to service delivery at all.
He said that while the DA respected every citizen’s right to protest, they believed those protests which caused damage to property and endangered citizens’ lives and livelihoods were merely politicking and thuggery masked as service delivery protests.