/ 10 March 2010

Mamelodi housing protests quiet down

The situation in Mamelodi East in Tshwane was quiet on Wednesday morning following violent protests earlier, police said.

“The police are still monitoring the situation but it has been quiet since yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon,” said Captain Johannes Maheso.

On Tuesday, City of Tshwane spokesperson Console Tleane said protesters fired live ammunition at firemen, pelted police with stones and barricaded several roads in Mamelodi East.

Tleane said when the metro police and police arrived at the scene, they were pelted with stones.

“Tshwane fire brigade services personnel could not completely put out the fires as they also came under attack and there were running battles all over. Some protesters fired live ammunition.”

Maheso, however, could not confirm reports of protesters using live ammunition, saying police would need to investigate that.

“There were no injuries reported even as a result of that alleged shooting by protesters,” he said.

The protests were apparently related to residents’ impatience about a backlog in government housing.

Gauteng provincial housing minister Kgaogelo Lekgoro condemned residents’ attempts to invade land earmarked for building houses and urged them to let his department do its work.

“We have a huge backlog and getting land to speed up housing delivery is equally a struggle. We [are] pleading with people to allow us to work and not engage in activities which are against the law,” he said in a statement.

He said they would not stand idly by as people, no matter how genuine their grievances, disobeyed the law.

Lekgoro said his department had worked “very hard” in the past three years to acquire the land and communicate its plans to various affected parties in the area.

“[We have] concluded plans to start building houses,” he said, adding that 5 000 houses would be built in the area over three years. — Sapa