Residents look for Siqalo solution
MITCHELLS Plain residents have elected a committee to decide the way forward after protesting Siqalo residents rendered a main road out of the area unusable.
Residents of the Siqalo informal settlement took to burning tyres and rubbish along Jakes Gerwel Drive in a dispute with the City of Cape Town, leaving Mitchells Plain residents stuck in their area or having to travel the long way round to work and school every day.
Frustrated residents have now elected a committee of eight, including two pastors, to deal with the issue.
Pastor Franklin Williams from Portland is taking the lead in spearheading the committee.
“We are being caged in our community due to the ongoing protests,” he said. “We want to have a sitdown with all parties and come to an agreement.”
Williams said he was pleased to be part of a committee that was taking the peaceful way forward, after some frustrated residents called for a rates boycott and protests of their own.
“We’re not here to fight fire with fire. We’re here to negotiate with the people of Siqalo,” he said. “The most important thing is that we need to be as civilised and humane as one can be. We are governed by our constitution. We can’t just not pay rates.”
Another committee member, Fatimah Cloete, said they would be consulting Siqalo leaders as well as city representatives to take their grievances forward.
“We don’t want Siqalo to be chucked out and have nowhere to go, so our plan is to meet with the city as a committee and ask from their side what they are going to do about the protests,” Cloete said. “The people of Mitchells Plain just want that to stop, so it can stop putting our lives in danger.”
WE’RE NOT HERE TO FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE. WE’RE HERE TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE PEOPLE OF SIQALO