The attempted forced removals that led to violence erupting in the Themelihle squatter camp in Lenasia this week arose over claims that the informal settlement is built on dolomite that can be prone to sinkholes.
A number of people were injured when police fired on squatters opposing the forced evictions.
But some residents believe it is a racial issue. They blame wealthier Indian residents for instigating the removals. Angry residents say Mbongeni Ngema’s controversial song, AmaNdiya, highlighting racism between Indian and black people, is reflective of this situation.
But Pan African Congress secretary general Thami ka Plaatjie disputes this, saying that he does not want to see this being turned into a racial issue when it isn’t one. He also does not believe that the settlement is prone to sinkholes. “There is no sufficient scientific proof.”
He says he has not been shown evidence that there is dolomite in the area and neither has any resident.
Benjie Lebelo, a resident, asked how it is possible that the dolomite can “affect only the squatter camps. The Indians have been staying here for more than 45 years.” Lebelo believes the council is using the dolomite issue as an excuse to remove them.
Ka Plaatjie says that “five years ago there was the same problem of the dolomite. We have been suspicious about this whole dolomite story. It is a ploy to make people move.”
Lebelo says the squatters had apparently been informed that the dolomite would kill them.
According to media reports, councillor Oupa Radebe has said that the government did scientific tests that indicated the presence of dolomite under the informal settlement only.
Nic Beukes, professor of geology at Rand Afrikaans University, says that most of Lenasia is built on dolomite. He says the problem “comes from way back in the Sixties and Seventies when the ground water system was drained” as a result of mining activities in the area, which meant that the ground water could no longer keep the soil intact. He says there are a lot of caves in the dolomite system.
“They’re all over. They remain stable when the system remains natural but as soon as you have a lot of housing where water will not fall on to the soil as before, it enhances the development of sinkholes.” To prevent sinkholes, says Beukes, good drainage systems are needed.
But the residents of Themelihle are impatient, saying the promises they have received have all been broken.
Ka Plaatjie says residents had marched on the offices of both the premier of Gauteng, Mbhazima Shilowa, and the mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo, to engage in futile negotiations.
He says that on Saturday “the Red Ants [a nickname for the firm contracted by the council] were sent by the council to demolish the shacks, even of those who had paid for the land. All hell broke loose. Some of them have been there for 20 years, some for even longer.”
The tense situation escalated on Monday when residents barricaded roads in Lenasia. The situation worsened on Tuesday when police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Police arrested three people.