Just beyond Johannesburg’s affluent suburbs, with their manicured lawns and swimming pools, the shack dwellers of Diepsloot live amid stinking garbage, raw sewage and rats.
After heading to the city in search of jobs and a better life, thousands have been forced to squat in dirt-floored tin huts, with no running water or electricity.
But most in this squatter camp of about 150 000 people do not want to move.
Disillusioned with politics, many squatters have little faith that their once-champion, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), will find them better homes and opportunities. Even the prospect of a new ANC leader, to be appointed at a December 16 to 20 meeting, fills few with hope.
”I moved here from Alexandra township five years ago, hoping for a better home,” said 64-year-old Timothy Magoro. ”But I’m still in a shack. The ANC has done nothing for us.”
He struggles to survive by selling fruit. But Magoro can barely afford the R10 minibus taxi fare into the city to buy fresh produce.
The squatters are constantly reminded of the country’s economic boom by the neighbouring Dainfern suburb, a community of luxury homes surrounded by a high wall topped with an electric fence.
Hundreds of people rioted in November when police tried to remove some residents of Diepsloot, just north of Johannesburg. Rubber bullets were fired to disperse crowds and several residents said one woman was killed.
But Paul Ramaloko, a police spokesperson, said the woman was only slightly injured and the shooting was under investigation. He said police tried to evict some residents because they were not authorised to live in the settlement.
Protests
Lebo Netshifhefhe, who said police beat him during the incident, would like to see a change at the top in the ANC.
ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma has taken a commanding lead over party and state president, Thabo Mbeki, ahead of the party’s meeting later this month. If Zuma wins he is highly likely to become South Africa’s next president in 2009.
The ANC has built more than 2,4-million houses since coming to power in 1994. But in places like Diepsloot there is no relief in sight. Critics say Mbeki’s policies have benefited big business, leaving millions of poor South Africans behind.
Like some others, Netshifhefhe sees Zuma as a man of the people. ”Jacob Zuma is a good guy,” said the plumber (30). ”He may help us, but I’m not sure.”
If Zuma takes over he will hear plenty of complaints from areas like Diepsloot about years of ANC neglect.
In recent months there have been a series of sometimes violent protests in townships and squatter camps over poor delivery of services, with scenes reminiscent of apartheid-era unrest. In some cases, local ANC officials were killed.
Elliot Gidimi (35) recalled how the ANC raised hopes of change after decades of deprivation under minority white rule.
But 13 years after the party came to power, he and many others are still waiting. ”We can’t even get a toilet, unless we can afford to bribe the authorities. Just look around,” he said, gesturing to heaps of garbage, bordering long rows of shacks.
Local people rely on a scattering of communal toilets, but there are not enough green plastic portaloos to go around.
Kate (28), who would not give her last name, said she took a computer course nine years ago, hoping it could help her get a job. Instead, she’s scratching out a living selling soap and canned foods from one room of her cramped hut.
As she spoke, Kate washed clothes in a plastic bucket full of dirty water. Her baby lay nearby next to a teddy bear dressed in a vest with the colours of the South African flag.
Kate said she was proud to be South African, but did not expect better days. ”I don’t think we’ll leave here,” she said. ”And if we do, we’ll have the same problems somewhere else.”
Teenagers with few job prospects played billiards in a crude shack with music blaring, one of the few distractions in the settlement. Men were drinking alcohol in the early afternoon.
An elderly man stopped a reporter, with a plea for help.
”Which party are you from?” he asked. ”Can you do anything to help us?” — Reuters