PICS: Protesters demands houses, block road in Rustenburg

Published May 7, 2018

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Rustenburg - Police used rubber bullets to disperse protesters in Rustenburg in the North West on Monday.

Protesters, who are demanding low-cost housing, barricaded the R565 road linking Rustenburg and Sun City with burning tyres, rocks and tree logs at Boshoek near Ledig.

The protesters fled into the open fields towards Rasimone mine as police used crowd control weapons to dispersed them. 

Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone said no arrests were made.

Community leader Daphney Semakane said they have been waiting for low-cost houses since 2014.

"We are tired of the empty promises made by government. We were promised houses and land but to this day we have none of those. The court said the municipality should make a commitment to provide us with shelter," she said. 

Semakane said they had been living in tents since 2013 after the Royal Bafokeng Nation demolished their houses, claiming the plots they had occupied were part of the ethnic homeland of the Bafokeng people. 

According to Semakane, the Rustenburg local municipality then promised to build them houses.

"The municipality came to meet with us in March and said they will bring developments. But they are not being specific. We want land and we want houses," she said.

African News Agency/ANA

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