Ramaphosa rails against Joburg’s mayor

ALEXANDRA has become a bone of contention as the ANC and the DA engaged in a mudslinging contest over the governing of one of the oldest townships in Johannesburg.

While campaigning in the area yesterday ahead of the May elections, President Cyril Ramaphosa slammed Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba for refusing to visit the township, which has been plagued by weeklong protests over basic service delivery and the illegal erection of shacks.

Violent protests have seen residents blocking roads with rocks, rubble and burning tyres.

Ramaphosa accused Mashaba and the DA-led metro of abandoning the township in terms of providing basic services, adding it was riddled with filth.

“I have seen with my own eyes the sewage that is all over here in Alexandra. It is just flowing in the streets of Alexandra. I have also seen that there is rubbish all over this place. Local government should be the one that is fixing these things, but your municipality is scared of coming to you,” he said.

Being the most congested township, residents from the area have complained about new people arriving and building shacks on their land.

Ramaphosa charged that Mashaba was too scared to set foot in the township to listen to residents’ grievances.

“The mayor should not be scared of his people. Now he is blaming the ANC for the protests,” he said.

Ramaphosa slated those who built illegal structures and called for them to be demolished. “This thing of building up structures illegally is against the law and regulations.

“We want the municipality here to follow the regulations and by-laws and make sure that all people abide by them so that people do not just wake up in the morning and decide to go build a house on the pavement.

“Houses that are built in wrong places must be demolished,” he said.

He called on the hundreds of Alexandra residents – many in ANC regalia – to back the governing party when they vote on May 8.