Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Residents warned of social problems
NEARLY two years ago South Peninsula residents urged city and provincial leaders to take action in Masiphumelele to improve living conditions there so that anger and tension would not boil over.
This week Lutz van Dijk, who has been involved with the local community for years and who co-wrote the letter, said it seemed the initial will of politicians to tackle problems raised in the letter had since fizzled out.
The petition-style letter was written in January last year addressed to, among others, Premier Helen Zille and Mayor Patricia de Lille. Van Dijk said more than 800 residents signed it.
This week Zille’s office forwarded queries to the Human Settlements Department, which had not responded by time of publication. De Lille’s office also did not comment.
The letter touched on two shack fires occurring in Masiphumelele in December 2013, killing five residents.
It said the situation was growing progressively worse: “Contemporary ideology naturalises inequality – renders it normal and expectable.
“But when the dispossessed rise up in anger and desperation, there is shock and surprise.
“There are three steps we urge you to take to prevent the escalating disparities between rich and poor exploding in our faces, be it with growing crime or political extremism.”
The three steps the letter mentioned included the repositioning of shacks so that roads for emergency vehicles could be created.
“Access to basic services will reduce the risk of disease from waste and polluted water. Access for emergency vehicles will reduce the devastating impact of fires.”
A second step involved developing another access road: “It is unacceptable that a community of more than 40 000 are locked in by walls on two sides and the wetlands on a third, with just one access road.”
It also said a land and infrastructure audit was needed so that potential areas for new developments for lower income groups could be identified.
“These actions are independent of party politics. They are to be implemented irrespective of election dates,” the letter said.