Over 500 barricade Joburg roads

2008-09-30 12:15

Johannesburg - Residents of Marlboro in northern Johannesburg barricaded roads with burning tyres on Tuesday in a protest over housing, Gauteng police said.

"Residents are disgruntled about government's allocation of housing in the area. Tyres are being set alight on Old Pretoria Main Road and Fourth Street," said Constable Neria Malefetse.

Over 500 Marlboro residents said they would continue protesting until government officials assure them that they would build houses and stop evictions.

"The government has not shown responsibility in building houses in Marlboro and hasn't responded to any memorandums handed to them," said a spokesperson for the Anti-Privatisation Forum, Silumko Radebe.

Residents gathered at different intersections near Alexandra had barricaded roads with burning tyres in protest against evictions and poor service delivery.

On September 3 residents marched to the Alexandra Renewal Project offices to present a memorandum of demands. The government was given seven days to respond, but never did, said Radebe.

Evictions

Many residents were evicted from warehouses in the area by private owners, despite having won a court order in 2005 preventing any evictions in Marlboro.

"This was on the basis that the government will build alternative houses or give us alternative accommodation, but there are continuous evictions taking place in the area," said Radebe.

He said protests would continue until the matter received the urgent attention it deserved.

The Democratic Alliance on Tuesday demanded that housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane be transparent in all housing issues.

"We call on (Mokonyane to) reveal all housing waiting lists and to finally level with the people of Gauteng about what she's going to do to give them the houses they've been promised," said DA spokesperson Kate Lorimer in a statement.

Fourth violent protest

Tuesday's protest in Marlboro near Alexandra, brings the number of sites affected by violent protest in the province to four in just two weeks.

Lorimer said people had lost trust in the housing department and believed they were being cheated out of houses that were "rightfully theirs".

"People need to know where they are on the list, who else is on the list and exactly when they will get houses. But the department is not prepared to say," she said.

- SAPA