Reality of life in Eldorado Park
Crime and lack of housing angers ‘forgotten nation’
THERE’S a total blackout on Tosman Frieslien Avenue in Eldorado Park. The only light that shines on the street comes from the mbaula fires that burn outside a few homes.
It’s been five days since residents have been in complete darkness. Sharlene Miller has been unable to leave her home. For her, the electricity outage is potentially life threatening. Dependent on an oxygen machine, her doctor has advised the pregnant mother to sit at home, and do little.
“I can only manage without my oxygen machine for a few days. But I’m unable to move anywhere or do anything strenuous that uses too much oxygen,” says Miller. “Hopefully the lights will come back on soon.”
Miller and her neighbours aren’t the only residents of Eldorado Park who have been battling without electricity.
The 33-year-old says load shedding is common in Eldorado Park.
“Sometimes we go for weeks without any electricity. My sister has a lung problem too. Hers is worse than mine. She relies on it 24/7 so she’s had to relocate to another family member otherwise she would have died.”
Beyond their electricity crisis, residents tell of soaring crime, lack of housing, poor service delivery and a worsening drug problem.
Last week, fed-up residents of Eldorado Park took to the streets to protest.
Miller lives on a property together with four other families on one of Eldorado Park’s most notorious streets – it consists of one tiny house and three shacks.
“This is how we have to live because the government says there’s no land to build more houses,” says Miller. “Families are being forced to build shacks on other people’s properties because there’s nowhere else to go. I feel like we are being treated like dogs and that the government couldn’t care less.”
Her neighbour, Maryna Thomas, appears from her tiny shack from across the road. She tells how she has spent the past 10 years living in the backyard of someone else’s home.
“I’ve been on the housing list since 1996, but nothing ever materialised,” says Thomas.
“We are always made promises by the government before elections. Once we vote they forget about us.”
Crime levels are unprecedented, say locals. Just last weekend, resident Adele Fisher-Peters was gunned down on Alabama Street in Ext seven.
Rodney van Dyk tells how his daughter is afraid to leave the house now. “My daughter has missed a week of school because she is terrified of what may happen when she is walking to and from school. I don’t blame her though.
“I don’t own a car so I can’t take her to school. But the streets are unsafe and so there is no other option but to stay at home.”
These days, more and more people are being senselessly killed in Eldorado Park, he says. “It breaks my heart to know that my children cannot go to school because the area we live in is too dangerous.”
Melvin Maynard, a father of four, who has lived in Eldorado Park all his life, fears for his children’s safety.
“Criminals are now even robbing young children in the area. My young son plays for a rugby team in Eldorado Park. Last weekend while he was on the field with his teammates, they were robbed of their rugby boots as well as the kit they were wearing. It’s shocking.”
The drug problem in Eldorado Park has spiralled, too.
“We have drug dealers on nearly every street in Eldorado Park. I was walking in Ext 4 the other day and saw a 15-year-old girl selling drugs on the side of the road. For many people that’s an unreal sight. In Eldorado Park it’s become the norm.
“People are afraid to stand up to the drug dealers because they will be killed and so these guys do as they please.”
The 4 5 - year- o l d s ays residents are planning to take to the streets again. “I don’t think the government is taking notice of what is happening here, so we have no other option.”
Bashier Holland, a member of the Eldorado Park Taxi Association, blames local councillors for poor service delivery.
“When our sons and daughters get married, where do they go? They have to put up a shack in somebody’s backyard.
“There are no houses where they can buy or apply for land. The government says there is no vacant land that is rubbish.
“We’re not asking for handouts. We want to apply for land, and we want to buy it.
“In Eldo’s you can have a stable job and still live in a shack.
“Any person in government should try coming and living in a shack. Tokyo Sexwale tried it for one night, where has he gone? He’s gone back to Houghton and living comfortably in his mansion.”
Charis Pretorius from the area’s Black Business Forum says Eldorado Park finds itself in the throes of a socio-economic crisis.
“Historically disadvantaged communities like Eldorado Park have evolved into the ‘forgotten nation’ over the years. Mediocrity has become almost the order of the day as resources are just not as readily available to these communities.
“We have, to a certain extent, almost become complacent with not being a priority to government as the stigma grows about us just being drug dealers, car thieves and social misfits.”
“We placed them in office and now is the time for them to deliver on those promises they made when campaigning for our votes,” she says.