White squatter camp also without services

The shady trees and grassy fields that line the outskirts of Coronation Park, in Krugersdorp, do little to tell the story of the approximately 250 individuals who call the municipal park their home.

Electricity was cut off to the small collection of tents, trailers and self-built houses two years ago.

Now the residents of the almost exclusively white squatter camp heat tanks of water over wood fires.

A handful who can afford it use petrol-powered generators.

"Everybody makes promises, but nobody delivers," said Anna Kruger, a three-year resident.

She said the lack of rubbish collection and of electricity were the community's most serious problems.

"When it rains, there is nothing we can do. We can't make a fire, we can't do anything. Our lives stop," Kruger said.

Down the road from Kruger, the elderly Joan Wienand is bed-ridden in her small trailer. She broke her hip when she fell during a rainstorm three years ago.

"No one takes me to the clinic. I lost my cards, I cannot collect my disability pension," she said. "I need to yell for my neighbours when I need to go to the bathroom."

Residents say they are disillusioned with the government and its promises .

Mogale City councillors say the squatter camp continually begets its own problems.

DA councillor Dennis Pretorius said: "It is not a political problem. It is not because of lack of trying by the ANC government . It is because of the people living there."

Pretorius said alcohol and drug abuse contributed to the area's misfortunes. He said charities that had supported the community had stopped doing so because donationswere hoarded by self-styled community "managers".