Pensioner Maria Radebe was supposed to be at the clinic on Monday, but instead she decided to join hundreds of protesters who were demanding housing, electricity and toilets in Orange Farm.
The service delivery protest in Link Road was characterised by shouting, and stones and sticks being thrown, with policemen at the ready.
Residents are complaining about the lack of infrastructure development and basic services. They want a library, community hall, a park, tarred roads, housing and electricity.
Most of the residents from Stratford 2 who came to the protest outside the Orange Farm Multipurpose Centre were women.
“I was supposed to be at the clinic, collecting my medication, but I decided to come here to add my voice to our cries,” said Radebe, 65, a resident of Stratford 2 since 1990.
Radebe has applied for an RDP house five times and, like so many other residents, she has been waiting for 18 years.
Radebe’s long-time friend and neighbour, Adelaine Mjothini, 76, who has been living in the area for more than 20 years, is waiting for service delivery in her area.
“What hurts me the most, though, is that I have been here for 22 years and all other developments are happening right in front of me (in other areas).”
Mjothini is referring to sections called Bambayi and extensions 4, 5 and 6.
“These areas came way after our area in Stratford 2, but they are developed. They have houses, tarred roads and other services.”
The elderly women’s sentiments are echoed by the hundreds of residents gathered outside the gates of the centre.
They complained, too, that the pit toilets had caused a rodent infestation and were the source of many illnesses in the area. The pit toilets are also a popular spot for some people to dump their newborn babies.
Ambulances won’t come to their area because the roads are too bad.
“An old woman died on the road, trying to reach an ambulance that was waiting for her at a corner,” one of the elderly women recalled.
The rainy season was bad as their shacks leaked.
“We are old and we are cold,” said Radebe. “Are we going to die under these conditions?”
Residents want their Ward 2 councillor, Mcingathi Mazibuko, to explain why housing is not featured on the budget.
“We want to know why this is not a priority and what is happening to all the money budgeted for our development,” said Leonard Mokoena, 38, who has been a resident in Ward 2 for 15 years.
“We are tired of councillors lining their pockets and filling their bellies.”
Justice Ngalonkulu, the City of Joburg’s chief whip, addressed the crowd behind the centre’s locked gate.
“The people who are in authority and have the power are not here today. I have spoken to three MECs – for housing, social development and infrastructure development; they will all be here tomorrow to address you,” he said.
Eric Nyundu, appointed by the residents to represent them at the meeting, said: “We took our issues such as housing, lights and toilets to the table. We didn’t get concrete responses because they told us the relevant people are not here to address us.”
Mazibuko and Ngalonkulu went on a walkabout with the residents through the area so they could show him first-hand their dire living conditions.
Mazibuko said corruption was to blame for the fact that most residents didn’t have houses that they had applied for 18 years ago.
“It does happen that when the time comes to hand houses to the right people, the houses were passed on to somebody else. There is corruption involved, I will admit,” he said.
Mazibuko added that for most of the 8km walk with the residents, he had kept his head down, in what one resident called “the walk of shame”.
The Star