Around 25 young men and women and children gathered at a blockade of burning tyres at the north end of Dr Jacob Zuma Drive around 8pm on Sunday 14 June vowed to make Grahamstown ungovernable unless their demands for decent living conditions were met.
Around 25 young men and women and children gathered at a blockade of burning tyres at the north end of Dr Jacob Zuma Drive around 8pm on Sunday 14 June vowed to make Grahamstown ungovernable unless their demands for decent living conditions were met.
The group, which was derogatory about Makana Municipality’s leadership, said they had resumed their protest begun on Thursday 11 June, because they wanted Makana Mayor Zamuxolo Peter to meet with them personally and hear their demands.
On Wednesday 10 June acting municipal manager Mandisi Planga met the group gathered outside the city hall, who identified themselves as Hlalani residents.
The group called for mayor Zamuxolo Peter and Ward 7 councillor Malibongwe Khubalo to step down from their positions. They stood in front of the building for about an hour, saying they would have only Peter accept their petition.
They were complaining about the lack of services and infrastructure in the area. They said they'd had enough of the pit toilets provided to them by the municipality. They also complained of dirty water and the poor state of the roads in the area.
On Friday 12 June, cars were forced to turn around as angry protesters set barricades alight on Dr Jacob Zuma Drive and blocked the busy Hlalani taxi route with concrete blocks and rocks.
In Hlalani on the night of Sunday 14 June, several residents said although they weren’t participating in the latest protest, they identified with the reasons for it.
A spokesperson for the protesters who refused to be identified insisted Sunday night’s action was not an organised protest, but a spontaneous community response to the conditions under which they are forced to live.
"We are going to make Grahamstown ungovernable until they hear our demands," the man, around 25, told Grocott's Mail.
"It's going to be the Festival soon and people won't like to come here if this is still happening," he said, pointing to the burning barricade. "Investors will turn around and go back.
"So they must listen to us now."
“We have no proper houses; we don’t have decent toilets; there’s no proper lighting here; our roads are terrible; there is terrible crime in this area,” were grievances mentioned by various members of the group who ranged in age from around 5 to 35.
A second group, which Grocott’s Mail did not see, was reported to be blockading the Hlalani taxi route on the other side of Makana’s Kop, and a third group blocked the main access road to Joza and other parts of Grahamstown from the N2.
A motorist returning from East London reported that police had turned them around when they attempted to enter Grahamstown via Dr Jacob Zuma Drive past Joza. They said barricades had been erected on the road opposite Nombulelo High School.
At Sunday night’s protest police maintained a watchful presence, keeping vehicles away from the protesters; however, they did not attempt to intervene in the protest.
At the time of publishing this article, we had not yet obtained official police comment on Sunday night’s events; however no reports of violence or injury had been received by Grocott's Mail.
