Cape Town - Langa residents brought the suburb to a standstill on Tuesday during a protest over a lack of housing in the area.
Shops, schools and the Langa train station were forced to close as the protests grew violent. The garbage removal services in the nearby waste station were also affected.
Zone 20 residents complained about poor service delivery because they had been promised new houses once the Inkandla housing development was completed. Area committee member Mawande Dyantyi said residents wrote more than seven memorandums to the city to ask for new housing developments in their community because they were promised new homes last year.
Dyanti said: “We want Mayor Patricia de Lille to come to our community and give all the answers about the new housing development project that we were promised, as it was supposed to be started already. I was so happy to see our community members who came out in large numbers yesterday to voice their concerns. That means we all feel the pain of living in hostels with more than five people in one room.”
Mayco member for Human Settlements Benedicta van Minnen said the city had been engaging with the leadership of the Langa Zones Hostel and was made aware that other areas would also need to benefit from the Hostel Transformation Programme. However the city suggested that all the existing hostels in Langa be upgraded before the programme was rolled out to other areas.
“The city is aware of the great need to transform more hostels in other areas in Cape Town, such as Gugulethu and Nyanga, however, it is not possible to transform all of them, including Langa, at the same time as the roll-out, which needs to be done systematically according to approved budgeted plans. The city indicated to the community that the provision of more housing opportunities in Langa will be considered once the planned projects have been completed.
“A strong law enforcement presence was being maintained in the area by late yesterday and the police had arrested at least 18 protesters, as this scale of violence and destruction is not tolerated.”
Metrorail Western Cape regional manager Richard Walker said commuters were advised to expect longer travel times because of re-routing and additional crossovers.
“Commuters are advised to consult Metrorail’s social media feeds/station announcements for the latest service updates. Casual commuters are advised to use alternative modes of transport to prevent unnecessary congestion.
“No single tickets will be on sale to the affected areas until the situation normalises and scheduled services can resume. Metrorail and SAPS continue to monitor the volatile situation with a view to reinstating normal scheduled services as soon as the Langa area is declared safe for operations,” he said.
Matric pupils in Langa missed their trial exams as a result of the violent protests. Jessica Shelver, spokeswoman for Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, said while they condemn any disruption to schooling at any time during the school year, “the disruption of schooling at this critical time of the year is even more concerning”.
“We trust that SAPS will act swiftly and decisively to restore order in the community so that teaching and learning can resume as soon as possible, education officials were worki ng with the management of all the affected schools to ensure that exams and assessments were rescheduled and we will continue to monitor the situation as our priority is to ensure the safety of all learners and teachers.”