Thokoza was in flames again this week and most reports blamed `disloyal’ self-defence units which had turned against the ANC. Philippa Garson returns with a very different version of events
EVERY night as Thokoza SDU members patrol the cold winter streets, they are reminded that _ despite a change of government _ not much has changed in their lives.
They are frustrated and tired of the burden of defending a community where peace remains elusive.
But they remain fiercely loyal to ANC and PWV premier Tokyo Sexwale. SDU commanders and members interviewed this week angrily denied reports that Sexwale was not welcome in their area and that their members were threatening to demolish the IFP-dominated hostel and attack Sexwale if he set foot in the township.
During a heated meeting this week, the SDU central command _ a structure co-ordinating the 600-odd SDU members operating in Thokoza’s 14 sections _ vehemently denied that any of its members had any such intentions, blaming the misinformation on “opportunists who are acting on their own.
“We are angry at some of the things being said,” said a central command spokesman. “Those people are not SDU members. We don’t know who they are, except that they come straight from the shebeens. Our soldiers are disciplined. They don’t speak on their own to the press.”
Claims of SDU rebellion come against a backdrop of renewed violence in the “Katorus” (Katlehong, Vosloorus and Thokoza) area, resulting in the deployment of additional security forces. Several people, many of them youths, have been killed in recent weeks. Taxis have stopped running in sections of Thokoza and residents have borne the brunt of sporadic exchanges of gunfire between hostel dwellers and SDUs.
The central command, comprising SDU section commanders in Thokoza, was formed last year to bring Thokoza SDUs into line and co-ordinate their efforts to defend the community against attacks from the hostel.
By all accounts, the structure has been highly successful in enforcing discipline and weeding out gangsters and criminals who jumped on the SDU bandwagon to further their own dubious aims.
Representatives of the ANC, its various organs and the civic all sit on the central command. Said civic leader Louis Sibeko: “Quite honestly, we have an accountable structure where the SDUs are under control. Our commanders are very disciplined. The sdu members are not there because they want to be. Many of them have bright ideas, some would be good leaders. All of them want peace.”
Even the South African National Defence Force commander of the East Rand, Colonel Chris du Toit, said the Thokoza SDUs had by-and-large “gained good control over their members. I can see progress. They are responsible people. The comments are being made by individuals on the ground who don’t have a mandate to speak on behalf of the people. I don’t think one should see this as the general opinion of the people in the area.”
However, Du Toit singled out SDUs in Tambo and Mandela sections _ near the hostel _ as problematic and not entirely under control. SDU members in Tambo section are protecting houses vacated by their parents and families who have fled the violence. According to Independent Board of Inquiry fieldworker Sally Sealy, these youths are hungry and penniless, while many are battle-scarred. Opportunists have moved in to exploit the situation, extorting fines from people who have left their houses and want to return, she said.
Central command co-ordinator Chechelo Machitje admitted there were always “elements in the SDUs taking advantage of the situation for personal gain. They have hijacked cars and stolen weapons bought by the community. They use arms for raping and hijacking, but mostly we have managed to identify them”.
The central command was adamant that “it was working with the premier to fight for peace. Any rumour of killing Tokyo is completely false. We are going to protect him when he comes to our place,” said Bonga Nkosi.
Despite the declarations of loyalty, however, the frustration of the SDUs is plain to see. They want the regional government to fulfil its promises and transform the hostel _ for them a symbol of the violence as long as it remains untouched _ into family units. More than anything, they want their lives to change.
“He (Sexwale) said we would get a better life if we vote ANC. But now we don’t get a better life. They must destroy the hostel and put those people among us, then we’ll all be staying together and everything will be all right,” said one commander.
“He has not exercised his powers as a premier to restructure the hostels in a way the community would be happy with,” said commander Sidney Nemaorani. “We were made to understand that immediately the government of the people takes over, the first thing it would do is clamp down on crime and violence and the purpose of the SDUs would disappear.”
Sibeko said it was difficult for the community to accept that now that the ANC was in power it had to “act like a father, and not take sides. People don’t understand this. When they voted, they thought things would happen overnight”.
Many SDU members said they failed to understand why Sexwale visited the hostel recently “without consulting us”.
Some Thokoza sources blamed the current confusion on a power vacuum and the fact that the provincial government had been guilty of “riding roughshod” over local community structures in the township. By disempowering these structures, space was created for mavericks to enter the field and say what they liked, despite the fact that they were accountable to no one. With residents desperate for an end to the violence and for the promised social upliftment of the area to begin, there was no shortage of “issues” which people could seize on to gain popularity. As a result, community structures had split into factions.
Sexwale’s spokesman, Ronnie Mamoepa, said since Sexwale visited the area last month “powerful forces of peace have been unleashed. We have held meetings with the ANC and IFP in the area, with displaced families, the SDUs and (IFP) spus. All have given unqualified support for the process of peace.” Mamoepa said those who had gone to the press with “anti-peace rhetoric” were not even SDU members and that there were people selling ammunition in the area who had a vested interest in undermining peace.
The transformation of the hostel into family units and the restoration of surrounding houses “is urgent and the government is treating it as such”, said Mamoepa, adding that the move, which had full support of the hostel dwellers, was part of a broader government plan to build housing units.
Ongoing violence and raised expectations are not the only problems facing a provincial government intent on uplifting and bringing peace to the war-torn East Rand. Many hostel dwellers in the area are opposed to their quarters becoming family units. “The premier said changes to the hostels are up to the inmates. We want to keep our hostel single-sex,” said Zakhele Mlambo, chairman of the National Hostel Residents’ Association. Mlambo was optimistic, however, about the ongoing negotiations to uplift not only the hostels, but the whole community of greater Alberton, and said that his association supported the peace and reconstruction efforts of the regional government.
On the recent threats to demolish the Thokoza hostel, Mlambo said: “Nobody can destroy the hostel and we reject their demand”. He said while the threats may not be coming from bona fide SDU members, they had to be taken seriously because “these people are still doing the work of the SDUs”.