Monday, protesters blocked two major highways in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha neighborhood, demanding electricity and a change in garbage collection services.
According to them, people have been waiting for power for many years.
They want the City of Cape Town’s contracted company to rotate managers and cleaners to create more employment opportunities.
The municipality promised to organize a meeting.
Monday, residents of shacks torched tires and garbage on Japhta Masemola Road in Cape Town, demanding that the City of Cape Town install power in the Lansdowne Road informal colony in Khayelitsha.
The fire compelled automobiles to turn around and compelled taxi drivers to drop off customers before reaching their destinations.
When the police arrived, the demonstrators fled inside their roadside shacks. Each time the cops departed, the demonstrators returned and rekindled the fires.
Chrizelda Makeleni, a community leader on Lansdowne Road, stated that the shack residents had been waiting 15 years for power.
During election campaigns, “councillors deceive us by claiming they will provide us with electricity if we vote for them,” she claimed. “When they take control of the ward after the elections, they blame the previous councillors for the lack of electricity here.”
She stated that households obtain energy by connecting their connections to neighbouring RDP houses and paying R500 per month to the property owners. “In certain instances, ten households link their lines to a single electrical box. The owners claim that the box trips and disconnects their cables, denying them electricity for the entire week despite having paid.”
She added that food spoils in the refrigerators when the boxes fall.
Makeleni stated that the demonstrators also demanded that the city hire more janitors to clean their restrooms.
Currently, just two custodians clean our restrooms. Since there are 170 households on Lansdowne Road, it is difficult to clean them adequately. We require at least two additional cleaners,” she stated.
Samela Desemela stated that she uses candles and a paraffin burner to cook and boil water in her shanty.
“Once I’ve lit the candle, I must keep an eye on it to ensure that it doesn’t burn down my shack along with my children. “Because I do not work, I am unable to pay house owners for their electricity,” she explained.
Earlier in the day, shack residents from Lansdowne Road Island and other Khayelitsha townships, such as Island, Msindweni, Endulwini, and a portion of Backstage, demonstrated against the cleanup of their neighborhoods.
At approximately 4:30am, they burnt tires and barricaded Baden Powell Drive.
Nonceba Ndlebe, a community leader, and the shack dwellers want Mega Ndira, the City’s contracted garbage collection company, to rotate the employment of cleaners and supervisors to offer fresh people a shot at employment.
Mega Ndira is responsible for the garbage collection in Island, Msindweni, Lansdowne Road, Endulwini, and a portion of Backstage.
According to Ndlebe, Mega Ndira employs the same crew of cleaners and supervisors for three years. “We desire work rotation. “We are all facing hunger and unemployment,” she remarked. “We want city and Mega Ndira officials to meet with us and account for their actions.”
She stated that garbage was piling up in the region.
The municipality reported a scheduled meeting with the contractor. The municipality had dispatched its own garbage collection crew. “However, the community’s threats left the team with no choice but to leave the area.”
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