Tshidi Motloung has been living in Zandspruit for the past 14 years and said she has experienced daily hardships.
Her tiny shack, that she built from material she collected in trash cans, is dark and windowless. Three metres from her door is a toilet that is sometimes overflowing as it takes time before it it emptied.
To keep the stench and worms at bay, she pours a mixture of Jeyes fluid and paraffin inside. On the days when the toilet is totally unusable, she and her family use buckets. The squalor, she said, attracts rats to their area too.
Motloung, 36, and her two young daughters have scars on their faces where they were bitten by rats.
“I was asleep one night when I was awoken by Lethabo’s screams. When I checked her, blood was pouring from her ear. I put her on the bed and I slept on the floor. But a few hours later I was woken up by a rat biting my forehead.
“This is the life we live and it is very hard,” she said.
Motloung took part in protests in the informal settlement on Wednesday. She said she joined the protests because she can no longer live like that in a free SA. She wants a proper house. She wants water and electricity and she wants her children to grow up in a dignified area.
A blanket of darkness covered some parts of Beyers Naude Drive as a huge smoke cloud from the burning tyres blocked the sunlight. Protesters, who gathered as early as 4am, also ripped a stop sign from the road and used the pole to scatter the fire all over the road. They also took the sign and dumped it on the corners of Peter Road and Beyers Naude Drive, warning motorists not to go past.
While the protests started early on Wednesday, protesters were threatening to continue until they see change in the area.
The ward councillor Maureen Scheenemann refused to comment on the situation, saying she had nothing to say to the media before meeting with the “troublemakers” who had caused the unrest.
“We are busy dealing with issues. This (the unrest) is not happening in the whole of Zandspruit and was caused by a few troublemakers. I can’t talk now until I have met and spoken to them,” she said.
Motloung, who together with her partner is unemployed, said she applied for a house many years ago but she is still waiting. On Tuesday she fell and hurt her leg. She went to the clinic where, she claims, the nurses turned her away as they had reached the quota of people they were attending to that day.
Getting water is also a daily challenge. Although there is a tap in the area, it is used by many people and there are times when it runs out in the afternoon.
“When it is finished, we have to be there at 4am in the morning to get water. But how can we go so early in the dark and risk being raped?” she asked.
Because the toilet is so close to her house, not only does Motloung have to be on the lookout for rats, she has to also ensure that the worms from the toilets don’t get into the house.
Clashes between protesters and Honeydew police continued yesterday and disrupted traffic on Beyers Naudé Drive.
At 4am vuvuzelas rang out among the shacks in the West Rand informal settlement. This was followed by an announcement that people must meet on the nearby main road – Beyers Naudé.
This protest followed several others in the area in recent months – all of them against poor service delivery.
Protesters are demanding houses, electricity, toilets, health care and a school. They say ambulances have to wait on the main road because there are no roads through the settlement.
And, they say, police do not arrest criminals who terrorise the community.
According to a student, the protest organisers broke down doors when people refused to open up for them and join the protest on the main road. No one was allowed to go to work or school this morning – taxis and buses were barred entry.
Tshililo Netshiya, 28, who sells cakes in the area, said: “I saw a group of people burn a woman’s handbag. She was on her way to work and because they don’t allow people to go to work today, they grabbed it and threw it in one of the many fires they had made.”
Residents demanded that President Jacob Zuma address them because they had voted for him. They did not want to see Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane or Housing MEC Humphrey Mmemezi.
Protesters say Mmemezi had come to see them in March, promised them “heaven” but never fulfilled his promises.
“The clinic opens at 8am and closes at 4.30pm and stops seeing people at 10am, whereas people had been queueing at 5am. And then nurses go on lunch for two hours,” an angry Emmanuel Ramodia said.
The protest took a violent turn when police fired rubber bullets at residents who ran away, only to then also close off nearby Peter Road and prevent more cars from getting onto Beyers Naudé.
When a driver tried to bypass the protest, his bakkie was stoned.
Other motorists on Beyers Naudé Drive turned back and one truck driver, in a vehicle carrying bricks, made a U-turn when the mob closed in on him.
About Zandspruit
* It has a large population – approximately 13 500 families.
* It has a large population – approximately 13 500 families.
* It is situated in an urban area: residential and industrial areas of Honeydew to the south, the plots and large estates of Muldersdrfit and Lanseria to the north and the new residential housing areas of Cosmos City and Dainfern to the east.
* There is no electricity.
* There are no playgrounds, parks or public spaces.
* Drug peddling is fairly rife.
* There is a high incidence of rape.
* Access roads are largely impassable in a car, therefore, it is difficult for police vehicles to enter the settlement.
* Ambulances and emergency vehicles cannot or do not want to enter the settlement. Residents need to wait at a nearby filling station, which is not only distressing as the injured need to be taken in wheelbarrows, but also dangerous at night.
* Crime is high and is compounded by the lack of electricity and police access, creating a situation where residents are under constant threats from criminal elements.
* The settlement grows daily because of a large influx of families and illegal immigrants. Many labourers are also attracted to the area because of the large amount of property development in the surrounding areas.
* There is a shortage of community centres.
* It is difficult for refuse trucks to access all areas.
* There are no libraries.
* There is no secondary school.
The Star