Huge birthday bash criticised by some
Kliptown residents survive ‘by grace of God’
UNEMPLOYED Michael Hendricks, 41, is killing time drinking sorghum beer outside his tiny 3m2 single room in impoverished Kliptown in Soweto.
The matchbox room serves as his bedroom, kitchen and living room. And the dirty pots strewn across the floor show that he last had a modest meal of pap and veggies.
A stone’s throw away from this scene, the ANC is planning a huge 75th birthday bash for its leader President Jacob Zuma, at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication. The party faithful have started gathering, all decked out in the ANC’s bright yellow, green and black colours.
Hendricks doesn’t look at all concerned about what is happening across the railway line separating the square and the informal settlement.
“I don’t see the need to go to Zuma’s bash because it’s not going to change or make any difference to our living conditions,” he says.
Hendricks, although composed, is full of anger for the poor conditions they are forced to live under. “There is poor sanitation here, there is green, slimy sewage all over. It’s unhealthy especially for young kids who play around such areas. For lighting we use candles and paraffin, which is costly. Some of us have resorted to illegal electricity connections,” says Hendricks.
He seems to put all the blame for their socio-economic challenges squarely at the door of rogue politicians.
“Look, politicians only come here during election time. Most of us are unemployed, we survive by doing odd jobs here and there. We want jobs and houses, which we are always promised by politicians but to no avail,” says Hendricks, looking agitated.
“They use our votes to get elected to Parliament and cushy cabinet positions. But the unemployment rate is high and, as a result, there are a lot of muggings here at night.”
It was alleged that the ANC had spent millions of rand to organise Zuma’s birthday bash. Last year, ANC bigwig and Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane caused a stir when she revealed that the party had spent a billion rand on its local government election campaign.
“How can the ANC spend such a lot of money on a bash while the living conditions across the railway line are this bad?” asks Hendricks.
He claims that Zuma has never visited the squalor they call home, saying: “Only tourists come here to document our poverty. We are the forgotten ones because the majority of our townships across the country have been neglected by Zuma’s government.”
Another resident, Bennet Jacobs, 30, a discouraged job seeker, shares Hendricks’s sentiments. “The crime rate is high in this area and the majority of young people remain unemployed. And we continue seeing the same people benefit from poverty alleviation programmes. It’s not fair at all.”
He then trains his guns on politicians, describing them in unsavoury terms, saying they are opportunists of the highest order. “They come here and beg for our votes, we elected them, but once they get power they only look after their own interests and selfish ends,” he says, standing outside the shack he has called home for over two decades.
“I’m not going to Zuma’s birthday bash. The money that was used to organise it should have been used to develop Kliptown. We want houses and crèches for the young ones, you know, the stuff that we see in other parts of Soweto,” says Jacobs, who comes across as a politically aware young man. “The Freedom Charter was adopted here in Kliptown but there is nothing to show for it. If the government can do more for the people, things would be much better,” he adds. Adopted during the Congress of the People in 1955, the Freedom Charter says there shall be work and security, that the people shall share in the country’s wealth, shall be equal before the law, and enjoy equal human rights.
When asked what he thinks of the national day of action protest calling for Zuma to step down, held in Pretoria on the same day as Zuma’s birthday yesterday, Jacobs says: “If Zuma must fall, he must fall and give others a chance. My brother, if you dabble in corruption and fraud, please think about others. We are not gunning for Zuma here but he must do the right thing.”
However, Lebo Mofokeng, 17, a Grade 10 pupil at Musi High School in Pimville, does not think Zuma must go.
“I understand the frustrations that people have. Yes, they want jobs, they want houses and all these things, and that crime must fall. I think President Zuma’s administration is trying its level best to address all that,” she says.
A self-proclaimed ANC supporter, she says: “I am happy that the ANC is hosting the president’s birthday party here. Our people will have the chance to go celebrate the president’s birthday and possibly get gifts.”
She said those calling for Zuma’s head “must give him a chance to prove himself and finish his term in 2019. By the way, I will go to the bash!”
Kliptown resident Maria Majoro, 51, a mother of four and grandmother to five children, said she was happy Zuma had turned 75.
However, she said it would have been better if the ruling party had channelled the money to develop housing for the poor majority.
She laments the fact that they are forced to share portable toilets and do not have clean, potable water.
“We survive by the grace of God,” she says before taking The Star team to her brother’s shack.
Her brother, Jacob Tsemana, 65, became wheelchair-bound after suffering a stroke last year. “All we want are houses. I am not going to Zuma’s birthday bash. Is that a problem?” he asks.
Meanwhile, at the Square, ANC supporters sang proZuma songs. High-powered German sedans, including those from the Presidential Protection Services, were seen. As ANC T-shirts were being distributed to the party faithful, some comrades were heard caucusing: “Zuma is under siege madoda!”
All we want are houses. I’m not going to Zuma’s birthday bash…