Desperation greets you as you drive on Panya Panya, the main road in Bekkersdal, a township in Westonaria, an old mining town west of Johannesburg.
This permeates the township, which was established in 1945 during the apartheid regime’s forced removal of black people from urban areas then reserved for white people. The majority of South Africans were confined to what the regime named “black townships”.
City Press visited ward 29 recently, a year after the local government elections, to see how life was for the ordinary people. We found a community that has even given up on protesting for basic services.
The residents returned to the polls again in June this year, but the low voter turnout of 34.33% told a story of their lack of confidence in political parties. The by-election unseated ANC councillor Wanelisa Moche, who was replaced by the EFF's Lindokuhle Biyela, who won 54.81% of the vote.
Motorists have no choice but to drive next to the road, manoeuvring on the narrow pavements full of pedestrians. Drivers also try to avoid the rocks placed on the roads by residents to stop cars from driving all over their gardens. It’s a mess.
At a busy corner not far from the bustling taxi rank is an illegal dumping site – in the belly of the township. It is on top of an open culvert and we found children playing a few metres away, an obvious health hazard.
“Here in Bekkersdal, the struggle is real. When electricity is shed, it goes forever here. We sit in rubbish,” said a woman who lives there.
Charles Lenka, a senior citizen who lives in a small shack in Bekkersdal, told City Press that the municipality was not helping them with anything.
“There’s no service [delivery]. We also dump [our rubbish] on the edges of the township because the municipality does not collect trash. The roads have been damaged by those who got tenders but failed to complete the jobs,” said Lenka, adding that the residents also struggled to access water.
A neighbour, Mme Annah, spoke about how life stood still when it rained, as they could not leave their homes for fear of flooding, as the water gushes in from the streets. She added:
Meanwhile, Bethuel Munyai, the EFF’s deputy secretary in the Rand West region and the party’s chief whip in the council, said that their mission was the “formalisation of all squatter camps in Bekkersdal, and to get them access to basic services such as clean water, electricity and sanitation”.
Biyela shared Munyai’s sentiments, adding that after the party took over, the red berets began working in the township on the electrification of the Holomisa section – an informal settlement under ward 29. He added:
In Khutsong, a township 50km from Bekkersdal, the situation is no different. Those who are lucky to have trash bins complained about how the municipality failed to collect the rubbish. Almost every street corner features illegally dumped trash. Worse, parks for children to play in are also dumping sites in Khutsong.
