Ramokgopa's promises must be kept, say protesters

22 June 2016

Pretoria - Protesting residents of Malusi informal settlement, formerly known as Gomora, in Pretoria West, took to the streets on Wednesday to demand that the promises made by current Tshwane Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa be fulfilled.

"After the announcement of the mayoral candidate in this municipality, the community started to have some concerns because there were development processes which had started taking place," community leader Mandla Nkadimeng said.

“They are asking themselves if that development will not be delayed by the incoming mayor. That is what caused the strike because they thought the incoming mayor might start to question the developments."

Townships in Tshwane have been engulfed by violence since the ANC announced Thoko Didiza as the mayoral candidate for the metro in the upcoming local government elections.

Party members and residents are against Didiza’s nomination and have called on the party to allow incumbent mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa to continue with his duties.

William Maila, a resident, said Didiza should first meet communities in the city to have an understanding of how things are before she is given the mayoral office.

"If they want to bring in Thoko, she must do that after visiting our areas to understand the development that has been planned for our area," he said.

The protesters held up a placard which read "ANC NEC must fall" as they continued their protest. There was a stalemate with the police for some time but once they were addressed by Nkadimeng, the residents agreed to end their protest.

They then started cleaning and removing cars and rubble they had put on the road.

"We clean after ourselves," one resident chanted.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.