ANC DIVISIONS FUEL VIOLENCE IN ZANDSPRUIT

Last night I stayed peacefully in the Zandspruit informal settlement in north west Johannesburg while protestors burnt tyres in the street in protest against the police arrest of four community leaders. I heard youths as they went door to door calling people for the protest.

Early this morning when I left Zandspruit I saw a burnt Glo-Bake shop and the remains of burning tyres in Peter Road (photos available on request).

This latest violence and previous service delivery protests are partly fuelled by divisions in the ANC which are holding back development in this densely populated informal settlement where more than 50 000 people live.

I discovered this yesterday when I visited there as part of my "Don't forget the forgotten" campaign in which I visit informal settlements once a month and stay the night to experience conditions there. This was my fifteenth such visit.

Local DA constituency representative Kate Lorimer MPL and I walked into a boisterous protest by community members who were angry that four people were arrested that morning by the police in connection with a vigilante necklace murder in the area a month ago.

They were pleased to see us and we addressed them. They complained that the police did nothing to curb crime in the area and had arrested the four people for political reasons because they opposed corruption in the local ANC branch.

Another accusation was that the ANC branch had irregularly elected pro-Zuma delegates to the Mangaung Congress. Zandspruit is a very volatile place, with lots of service delivery protests that spill over and sometimes block the busy Beyers Naude Drive.

They have much to complain about, and have little confidence in local ANC councillor Maureen Schneeman.

I visited the Zandspruit clinic and found that it had been without water for two days. Children at the Masakhane Primary School were sent home because of the lack of water.

It took a few phone calls by Kate Lorimer to get a water tanker in less than an hour, which shows how ineffectual Clr Schneeman is.

Zandspruit started 19 years ago on private land and now has more than 15 000 shacks. There is only one clinic, two primary schools, and no high school or recreational facilities.

There is no electricity and inadequate toilets and taps. The roads are terrible and there are lots of raw sewerage streams, which are worsened when it rains. Rubbish frequently piles up before it is collected.

It's really a small town with lots of very interesting shacks, including double story ones, all crowded together.

It needs to be proclaimed as a township so that proper upgrading can take place, but Johannesburg council has inexplicably delayed in buying up the private land on which the shacks are built. This is despite a council resolution in 2004 authorizing the purchase of the land.

I stayed the night at the shack of Mr Robert Khumalo, an unemployed 57 year old builder.

It brought home to me how tough their lives are, and how forgotten they are by those they have elected to represent them.

The DA is picking up a lot of support in the area, so the ANC may well get an election shock from those whose support they have taken for granted despite a shocking lack of delivery.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Caucus Leader, November 22 2012

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