When a primary-school teacher in the troubled Khutsong township asked her grade-one students what the word ”demarcation” means, one pupil answered: ”They want to move us somewhere poor.”
The children think it’s ”just a game” to provoke the police by throwing stones and burning tyres in the streets, says the teacher, who did not want to be identified.
But angry Khutsong residents say they have been forsaken by the ruling African National Congress and that their problems run deeper than being incorporated into the North West province.
The town of more than 135 000 people, situated on the West Rand near Carletonville, has been plagued by violence in the past few weeks. Khutsong residents have protested against politicians rallying in the area and threatened to boycott next week’s municipal elections.
This week, the ANC sent in one of its big guns, party chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota, who tried unsuccessfully to calm the fears of the community.
On Wednesday, South African President Thabo Mbeki said the fiasco was merely a ”misunderstanding” and that moving Khutsong into the North West would have no impact on service delivery other than improving it.
Service delivery
But the question remains: How will the government improve service delivery in an area where ordinary people feel they have been forgotten?
”Even the previous regime is better than the ANC. We’re free and there’s democracy, [but] where is the freedom?” says ZZ Zinja, a 28-year-old self-employed tattoo artist.
”On the first [of March, the local election date] we are celebrating. We are not voting here,” he says.
Zinja is a qualified miner, but cannot find employment. For the past four years, he has resorted to painting and tattooing to survive and expressed bitterness with the government because he feels it ”neglects to deliver on its promises”.
”They [the ANC] bribe the people to vote for them … and now?” He points towards the shacks. ”They promised toilets to them over there, but why haven’t they delivered?
”They [government officials] live in beautiful houses. They don’t care about us.”
Dirt roads, littered streets, unpainted homes, wire fences, tin roofs and shacks galore are a familiar sight in the town where the unemployment rate has never officially been established.
However, according to a Merafong city local economic regeneration study conducted last year, the employment rate was 20,6%. Khutsong is part of the Merafong district.
Zinja says: ”There are many that look for a job here. I am struggling. But I try to make do with what I make.”
Makgaje Motsumi, an attorney and Khutsong resident, says the ANC blatantly ignored the community of Khutsong when it decided to move the municipality from Gauteng to the North West. ”That is a pure deception,” he says.
Motsumi is representing one of the protesters who were arrested on Sunday on charges of public violence.
Schools
On Wednesday, stones, burnt mattresses and tyres littered the roads of Khutsong. The atmosphere of the town was tense
The protests have disrupted education. High schools remained deserted following violent protests by students on Monday. Khutsong has 11 schools, of which only three primary schools are still operational.
Students at the Badirile High School walked out of classes on Monday to protest the arrests on Sunday night of other students, for public violence.
Goodwin Babupi, the principal of Badirile High School, says the students told him on Monday that ”they don’t want other [students] to be taught while others are in jail”.
”They said everyone must suffer.”
All high schools are being boycotted by students in what they call roll-over mass action, which means they have not set a date to end their protests, he said.
Babupi says he’s not going to stop learners from protesting. ”I fear for my life. I reserve my comments and questions.”
The younger children, in grade eight or so, seem lost in these violent protests, says the principal. ”You can see they don’t know what to do,” he says — hence they just follow the crowd.
On Wednesday afternoon, schoolchildren burnt tyres 500m away from police vans, provoking them to respond. A young boy walking in the street peered curiously at the commotion around him and appeared excited when he started toyi-toying with the crowd.
Babupi says that when violence erupted in Khutsong last year, some matric students were too terrified to come to school and write their examinations.
”How do children write with police around [them]? It affected them terribly. One girl didn’t write an exam and I have to account for that,” he says.
Concern
But not all students in school want to protest. Matriculants, who only have four months left to study for their finals, are being affected by the school boycott.
Chix, a 20-year-old matric pupil, says he’s against students who are ”taking advantage” of the situation in Khutsong and burning tyres and protesting for fun.
Students who didn’t matriculate last year burned the town’s only library during one of their protests, he says.
”I want to go to school. I’m very much worried about my matric. I only have four months to prepare for my finals,” he says.
Chix says he doesn’t want to vote because he doesn’t feel that it would make a difference. He says he ”never liked the ANC because they bribe people”.
Speaking about the violent protests, Chix says he feels ”trapped” by the police who patrol the streets. ”I don’t like this. We hate [living like] this … Why do we have to toyi-toyi for things?”
Children who weren’t in school on Wednesday played in the local stadium, unperturbed by the police vans parked at the entrance.
Stephen Dire, an 18-year-old pupil who was shot in the mouth with a rubber bullet on December 14 last year by a police officer, claims police do not act responsibly.
”The cops don’t say anything. They just shoot and arrest [people who are innocent],” he says.
Dire alleges that when he confronted the police officer who had shot him, ”he told me it’s because I was a ”klipgooier [stone thrower]”.
He claims to have been walking home when a riot broke out between the residents of Khutsong and the police near the stadium last year. The incident left Dire with half a mouthful of teeth and a scar the size of a marble (the result of seven stitches) on his upper lip.
One of his friends adds: ”Ya, he’ll hate the police forever. He’ll always hate them.”
Itumeleng Baard, another angry friend of Dire’s, said that if the government proclaims to serve the people of South Africa, then ”they don’t practise what they say”.
Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said she cannot divulge any ”operational information” when asked when police are allowed to open fire on a violent crowd. However, she said the police officers ”use their discretion”, depending on the situation.
According to a 2002 report by the Merafong city municipality, 5 566 houses had been developed and there were 12 000 informal housing structures. Five thousand shacks had been erected behind houses by so-called ”backyard dwellers”.
These statistics reflect a harsh reality: the Khutsong area is indeed overpopulated, and the concerns of the people living there, who feel neglected by the government, will remain a contentious matter until they are addressed.