Evicted – and the old community divides
E IS white and she is black. They have been married for 17 years and have been living with other poor people – black and white. They met at a coffee shop in Boksburg. They love each other and have lived happily and peacefully.
Skin colour has never been an issue in Coronation Park in Krugersdorp but now, 20 years after democracy and even longer since laws prohibiting mixed marriages were scrapped, Pieter Potgieter and Ruth Ngope have a dilemma.
Now that Mogale City has won a court order evicting all the residents of Coronation Park to make way for a R24 million re-development, the ghost of segregation has risen from its grave.
Potgieter has been offered a new home, but his wife cannot accompany him because she is black.
Sitting outside their caravan this week, he held her hand and patted his dog, Patches.
Some of the residents at this predominantly white squatter camp are moving to an exclusively Afrikaans development called Kleinvallei, in Krugersdorp. Others are going into shacks built by Mogale City in Munsieville, a nearby township.
Ngope is afraid for Potgieter’s safety in the township, but Ngope is not welcome in Kleinvallei.
Jaap Kelder, spokesman for Kleinvallei, said allowing only white residents had nothing to do with race. “People going to Kleinvallei are part of a cultural group. The constitution promotes and protects the rights of cultural, religious and linguistic communities. That’s what we are,” he said.
HThose who chose Munsieville however, beg to differ. They say the Kleinvallei group is racist. The two options have evidently split the community.
Coronation Park was a real caravan park when Potgieter and his wife moved there, he said.
“There was water and electricity, we paid around R600 per month. But seven years ago it all stopped; there were too many people coming to stay here and the city has been trying to evict us ever since.”
It finally happened, he said, “and I will move to the township with my wife”.
Mogale City deployed Red Ants to help residents move and to build shacks for them in Munsieville this week.
While they were packing, Patches barked at the Red Ants’ trucks as if she knew she would be forced to get inside and move away. Residents piled their belongings into the trucks, then sat by the open doors for one last glance at their old home.
Frans van Niekerk, who was moving to the township, said they were obviously fearful. “But as with anything new, being uncomfortable at first is normal. If you don’t go there to make nonsense for the peo- ple, they will not harm you.”
Those heading for Kleinvallei are waiting for the bathrooms and showers to be fixed, then they will pay R200 a month for services.
“It is sad that we have to separate. We have always been a family, a community, but Kleinvallei is a better option for me and my family,” said Daniel Polter.
Awaiting their new white neighbours, Munsieville residents said they understood. “I know where they are coming from and I’m happy for them because I too have been without a home. I’m sure we will live in harmony,” said Patric Tshabalala.