Diepsloot residents woke up on Monday for the second week running to the overwhelming stench of faeces emanating from mobile toilets that had been pushed over.
Shangaan music blasting from a nearby shebeen entertained municipal workers called in to clear the streets of garbage and debris.
The burnt-out trophy of an SABC car and the sporadic presence of police driving through the township served as a reminder of the previous night’s violence.
Two weekends ago what also began as a mild protest on Sunday suddenly erupted into looting and violence. Residents were protesting against what they understood to be a plan to temporarily relocate them to Brits.
”Looting and vandalism would not have happened if the police had not shot at the peaceful march,” Joe Masemola, South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) chairperson for Diepsloot, told the Mail & Guardian.
But for property owner Phineas Mudau (73), the mayhem was both criminal and xenophobic. ”Thieves saw this as an opportunity to loot and destroy shops belonging to Pakistanis,” he said. Mudau rents shop space to a Pakistani family for R750 a month. He used to run the shop himself until ill-health forced him to close down.
”Thieves broke in through the roof and looted and vandalised the shop. On Monday morning the tenants took whatever was left and ran away. I am now out of business,” he said.
Yet another explanation of the township’s misery came from Oifa Mashigo, a community leader representing the ANC: ”Corruption is rife here and it is hampering the service delivery,” she told the M&G.
This week Diepsloot ward councillor Dan Mahlangu arrived in an armoured vehicle. Residents had hoped they would be told about their new RDP houses, but instead Mahlangu discussed the sewerage pipes that needed replacing. Unhappy residents again went on the rampage.
Mahlangu blamed local land mafia and power moguls for delaying development. ”There will be no development if the sewerage system is not replaced,” he said. ”The infrastructure there at the moment is not suitable for houses. The way forward in this mess is to engage the community and talk to them individually without Sanco’s involvement.”
Abner Letsoalo (44) suspects Sanco was behind the violent protests and fears that the eruptions will ”bring back xenophobic attacks”. Letsoalo said: ”We are going nowhere. The government has been trying to speed up development in Diepsloot but there is clearly something that is halting the process. Sanco is lying to the people and the ANC should intervene.”
”I’m not in a position to comment about what took place because I was not in the area. But … police shooting does not mean residents should attack and vandalise property,” said Robbie Senoelo, the senior communications officer representing the police.
”Maybe the challenge was a lack of proper communication. Sanco is using this to garner support.”
Anger barometer
The past few weeks have seen an outburst of protests against poor service delivery across the country:
- Residents of Mashishing in Mpumalanga set fire to a clinic, a library and a hostel at the weekend;
- A protester was shot dead in another incident in an Mpumulanga township on Monday;
- On Sunday 14 protesters were arrested in Diepsloot after more than a week of violent protests;
- In Du Noon, Cape Town, residents of an informal settlement burned tyres on a road on Tuesday;
- A Khayelitsha protest on the same day put one protester in hospital and left in its wake a blazing Golden Arrow bus; and
- One person was injured and three arrested after the police fired rubber bullets at protesters near Rustenburg on Monday morning. — Ilham Rawoot and Paul Botes