Azania residents march on municipality – MM walks out on crowd
About 100 residents of what is referred to as Azania, held a peaceful protest to the Stellenbosch municipal offices today to demand basic services such as clean water and sanitation, adequate roads and access to electricity.
‘’No basic services, no vote’’, ‘’we demand basic services’’, and ‘’why are they ignoring us,’’ read some of the posters held by protesters.
Some residents told Stellenbosch Monitor they feel guilty about the lack of services in Azania because the elderly, people with disabilities and children are all living in poor conditions. ‘’We brought children and the elderly here today to show that we are not just fighting for ourselves but for everyone. We feel guilty about what is happening in our places. We are suffering and have waited too long for services.
‘’We have been waiting for three years. If we were white, we would have had services long ago.’’
While showing pictures of the squalor conditions in Azania, residents say they are forced to relieve themselves in bushes that are located far from their shacks and claim there are only six water tanks while there are more than 1 700 shacks.
This is not the first time residents have protested to demand services. One of the previous protests took place in August 2019. That protest was led by community leader, Midas Wanana, who was shot and killed after the protest just hours before another protest he helped organise. Today, some protesters wore T-shirts with his photo and the words ‘’Remember Wanana’’ printed on them.
Azania was established through a landgrab on the farm Watergang in August 2018. The municipality bought the farm for more than R45 million from former owner, Stefan Smit, just days before he was also murdered in June 2019.
Municipal Manager, Geraldine Mettler, signed and received a memorandum, by three community leaders, including Zola Ndalasi. Part of the memorandum states: ‘’We believe that the Stellenbosch Municipality has the resources to alleviate the situation. We are hereby asking you to give us a specific date and deadline as to when these services will be implemented.’’
In the memorandum community leaders also ask for the budget for Azania for 2019-2021 so that they can track the progress and because they see no improvements.
‘’We are now approaching the 3rd wave of Covid-19, so we demand that you respond to us because residents are tired of waiting in vain.’’
Addressing the crowd, EFF Provincial Treasure, Moses Thembile Klaas, asked the protesters to be united no matter which political party they belong to. ‘’When you vote, vote for the services. Don’t vote for the party.’’
Klaas later told Stellenbosch Monitor the EFF is behind the people of Azania. ‘’We request that the municipality deliver services to the people. The EFF’s first cardinal pillar is expropriation of land without compensation. We did that with them, so we support them 100%.’’
Community leaders asked the municipality to respond to their demands within 7 days.
Mettler was asked to address the protesters but declined. ‘’I am not surprised because the municipality is racist, and I know they are not going to give us services,’’ commented Ndalasi. She refused allegedly because the loudspeaker that was used by the protesters, was not sanitised.
Stellenbosch Monitor requested comment from the municipality regarding today’s protest and the allegations made. Their comment will be added as soon as we receive it.
Stuart Grobbelaar, Stellenbosch Municipality’s Communications Manager, says the gathering was approved by the Municipality in terms of the Gatherings Act 205 of 1993.
‘’The Municipal Manager will be responding to the group within the prescribed period. The Municipality strives to provide services and housing opportunities to as many citizens as possible. We work strictly according to the official Housing Demand Database (Housing List). It should be noted that the Municipality successfully obtained a court interdict on this land as it is earmarked for development.
‘’We will not be commenting on baseless and derogatory allegations.’’
