Challenges remain quarter century on

ALMOST a quarter of a century later, and the long-time residents of Port Elizabeth’s northern areas must wonder if the part of the city they call home has brighter prospects than the days its streets were covered in blood 24 years ago.

The Northern Areas Uprising saw a peaceful march against evictions and exorbitant rent increases turn into five days of horror when the protest erupted into violent clashes with police, resulting in carnage that claimed the lives of dozens of children, women and men.

There will be many residents who will recall that day – in a year when Nelson Mandela had been released and the ANC unbanned, setting the stage for momentous political change – with sorrow, anger and questions.

Questions as to why the intervening years have seen its inhabitants having to negotiate all manner of obstacles, social upheaval, violent crime and disruptions to daily life that, distressingly, have not subsided despite the best efforts of communities to bring about stability.

But it is a never-ending bat- tle when the social fabric is often torn apart by high unemployment and substance abuse, schooling bedevilled by inadequate facilities, and precarious living in the shadow of deadly gang warfare.

In the darkest days of apartheid as the bulldozers moved into South End and forced removals saw entire communities displaced, the northern areas became home to those who had lost a sense of identity and dignity.

It was a loss mirrored by the neglect and indifference its inhabitants, who have given the city such immense cultural riches, have suffered for 50 years.

It is high time that Nelson Mandela Bay as a whole – be it municipal and community leaders, officials, crime-fighters and every fellow citizen – woke up to the fact this once so-called “coloured” area is part of the metro, part of what makes it work, and part of what makes it what it is as a proud community.

It needs attention given to its most pressing issues if the metro is to achieve that objective. The tragic 1990 uprising should help remind us of that.