Better known as a retreat for sensitive artists, Nieu-Bethesda has finally entered the toyi-toyi age. Last week more than 300 angry township residents marched through the isolated Eastern Cape village, intent on ridding themselves of their town clerk.
Behind its picturesque reputation as home to the Owl House and playwright Athol Fugard, the Sneeuberg hamlet is scarred by rampant poverty, unemployment, violence and alcohol abuse.
Residential segregation has become almost total over the past decade, with affluent whites buying properties and squeezing black residents into the overcrowded Pienaarsig township.
In a nine-page memorandum handed to Camdeboo councillor Walther du Plessis at the municipal offices on Wednesday morning, the marchers noted the council’s failure to deal with the critical housing shortage, the bucket sewerage system, the lack of street lights and the shortage of job opportunities.
The memorandum warned that squatting could not be ruled out. This would have a ”negative impact” on the image of the village, especially if it occurred near the Owl House, Nieu-Bethesda’s main tourist attraction.
The ”biggest grievance”, however, was the continued employment of Leonie Fouche as the town’s chief administration officer. Fouche was ”unsympathetic” to their needs, inflexible and had an extremely poor relationship with the community.
The memo accused her of only impounding stray township animals when they strayed into the ”white” precinct and lavishing attention on the ”white” graveyard while the township cemetery was cleaned only once a year.
Fouche rejected the allegations as ”most definitely unfounded”. Du Plessis pledged the council would respond to the memo within seven days. — ECN