Protests cause havoc in KZN and Gauteng

Service delivery protests caused havoc in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng on Monday as residents demanded access to housing.

In Durban mayor Zandile Gumede was forced to send a team to meet informal settlement residents who set fire to a school and blockaded roads.

Residents of Banana City‚ the informal settlement on Varsity Drive‚ in Reservoir Hills‚ were protesting after their requests for housing went unanswered.

They demanded that Gumede address them.

• Mayor acts after classrooms torched during service delivery protestDurban mayor Zandile Gumede has delegated a team to meet with residents from an informal settlement who set fire to a school and blockaded roads. 

On Sunday night two classrooms at Hillview Primary School on Varsity Drive in Reservoir Hills were set alight‚ forcing the school to close.

On Monday morning several roads in the area were closed as informal dwellers burned rubbish and threw stones.

Mayoral spokesman Mthunzi Gumede said the mayor was out of the country on council business but “has delegated a team to meet the community. She [the mayor] will be able to respond swiftly‚ once advised by the team.”

Jabulo Motsotsi‚ a resident of Banana City‚ said: “We have been promised housing since 2010. People keep getting bluffed that houses will be built within 10 months but nothing happens. Politicians make promises for our vote but don’t deliver. We are sick and tired [of it]‚” Motsotsi said.

• Southern areas of Joburg rocked by violent protestsViolent protests broke out in the south of Johannesburg on Monday over the issue of land invasion and evictions by the City of Joburg. 

In Gauteng violent protests broke out in the south of Johannesburg over land invasions and evictions. Protesters blocked roads‚ heavily affecting traffic on the N12‚ Golden Highway‚ N1 and Union Road.

Police had to use rubber bullets to disperse residents who barricaded roads in Lenasia‚ Eldorado Park‚ Ennerdale and Freedom Park. Mayoral Management Committee member for housing in Johannesburg‚ Mzobanzi Ntuli‚ said protests began after evictions on Sunday in Eldorado Park.

Protesters blame the administration for failing to provide them with houses.

Gauteng MEC for Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane pleaded with government officials to take responsibility for their actions. “I think we need to realise as leaders that when we make promises to communities we need to honour those promises.’’