More than 500 community members were protesting today (December 28, 2010) against their relocation from Bapsfontein informal settlement to an area near Benoni, a police spokesperson said.
“They started to become violent but the police stopped them,” said Constable Sally Skosana.
She said at one point people were throwing stones, but by 11am the protest had become peaceful.
People from the informal settlement did not want to move to a transit area next to Chief Albert Luthuli township, near Benoni, Skosana said.
The Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality has said that about 3 000 families have to relocate because of a dolomite problem in Bapsfontein.
“The Bapsfontein informal settlement area was declared in a local state of disaster, which is highly unstable and not safe for human settlement due to the dolomite instability in the area,” municipal spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said.
He said the relocation process was expected to run until the middle of next month and the families were to be moved to various temporary relocation points.
They will stay in temporary accommodation at the N12 Highway Park, in the area between Putfontein Road in the west, Benoni Road in the east, the N12 on the south side and Chief Albert Luthuli Extension Three to the north.
Dolomite is soluble and over time it dissolves, posing a danger to people living on dolomitic land where cave-ins known as sinkholes eventually occur.
