More than 500 community members of the Joe Slovo informal settlement took to the streets in the early hours of Tuesda in protest against the mayor’s failure to respond to their memorandum which was submitted last year.
Residents blockaded St Anthony’s Road and Leon Ferreira Drive with tyres and stones.
At around 7am, Leon Feirra Road was under heavy police and EMPD surveillance. Chanting protesters could be seen gathering at St Anthony’s Road.
The protest follows closely on another recent service delivery protest in December which resulted in a clubhouse at the Reiger Park Sports Arena being burnt down.
A security guard got injured in his leg while trying to escape from the protesters. They threw a petrol bomb in one of the rooms where he was hiding, inside Reiger Park Sports Arena’s club facility.
Residents complained about the lack of electricity supply in their community.
According to one of the community leaders, JayJay Majali, they submitted a memorandum to the Ekurhuleni ANC Chief Whip Jongizizwe Dlabathi in December in which they made it clear they needed a response in seven days’ time, but to no avail.
“We gave them time to respond but they didn’t. We had to wait for everyone to return from holiday before we could organise another protest to call the mayors’ office to action.
Another community leader, Gladys Thejane, said it seems they were not taken seriously, adding that since 1994 no developments have taken place in Joe Slovo.
- Memorandum
Some of the grievances on the memorandum included reblocking of Joe Slovo, electrical box installation, finalisation of the stormwater drain at St Anthony’s Road, update about Leeuwpoort project and the database list of the people in Joe Slovo.
The mayor’s representative in the service delivery office, Sonnynoy Masingi, arrived escorted by the EMPD to accept the memorandum of grievances.
He said the memorandum will be attended to according to their seven-day working period.
Majali told Masingi to pass the message to the mayor that if their memorandum was not attended to, the communities would not cast their votes on election day.
“We won’t allow any IEC tent to be put up in our area until they listen and act on our complaints,” Majali said.
According to the Reiger Park SAPS spokesperson, Const Jan Mokwana, one person was arrested for public violence.
“Members from the SAPS Public Order Policing (POP) Unit guarded the area and removed burning tyres from the street, clearing the road for motorists,” Mokwana said.
ALSO READ:
Watch: Protesting Joe Slovo community tired of lack of services
Follow us:
For more #hyperlocal news at your fingertips, visit Benoni City Times, Springs Advertiser, Brakpan Herald, African Reporter and Kathorus Mail.
