by Meggan Saville and Jenni Evans<\/p>\n
Tear gas was fired at protesting residents of Kya Sand, north of Johannesburg, on Monday afternoon, Gauteng police said.<\/p>\n
Lt-Col Lungelo Dlamini said a small group of protesters started throwing stones at police escorting them back to the Inadan informal settlement.<\/p>\n
Police retaliated by firing gas canisters at those who were being unruly, and restored calm, he said.<\/p>\n
The protesters had dispersed around 1.30pm, but later regrouped and blocked Riverbend and Aghulas Roads, said Democratic Alliance ward councillor Matome Mafokwane.<\/p>\n
He said police fired rubber bullets at the crowd, but Dlamini denied this.<\/p>\n
Earlier, members of the mayoral committee (MMC) addressed the protesters.<\/p>\n
Housing MMC, Dan Bovu, told the community he would engage with them to prioritise their needs for planned development in the area.<\/p>\n
When he said he would check his diary to find a suitable time for this, the protesters jeered at him.<\/p>\n
Public safety MMC Matshidiso Mfikoe said a meeting would be convened with the residents’ leadership next Tuesday.<\/p>\n
She said a broad, integrated programme of development was needed, and she said she would ask the provincial government, before the meeting, about long-term solutions to problems facing the community.<\/p>\n
“We need money for building roads, for sewers… this needs to be quantified,” Mfikoe said.<\/p>\n
Mafokwane said that the possible relocation of residents from Inadan, an informal “mini-settlement”, to the greater Kya Sand informal settlement was the reason initially given for the protest.<\/p>\n
A small group had turned out on Wednesday to protest against the relocation, but this had escalated into demands for housing and sanitation.<\/p>\n
Bovu said about 2000 people living at the informal settlement needed to be moved because it was on a wetland and not conducive to development.<\/p>\n
Possible solutions included moving families to Kya Sand or Cosmo City and speaking to local private land owners to find suitable land.<\/p>\n
Around 500 protesters sang and waved sticks, watched by a large police contingent on Monday.<\/p>\n
Police cordoned off Malibongwe road in the vicinity of the protest. A water cannon was on standby, but was not used.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Mafokwane said the protest was not political.<\/p>\n
“I don’t want to believe that this is political, I want to separate this from politics,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mafokwane said it was unclear what had sparked the renewed protests.<\/p>\n
“Obviously something must have happened… It started with one grievance, now it’s packing on top with others,” he said.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the informal settlement dwellers, Ephraim Lifuwas, said employers were likely to bear the brunt of the protest as workers were unable to get to work.<\/p>\n
The intention was to pressurise the government into yielding to their demands.<\/p>\n
“Build houses. That is what we need,” he said.<\/p>\n
Regarding the relocation of residents, Mafokwane said normally a decision was made on an issue only after departments had given councillors a detailed brief, and feedback had been obtained from the community.<\/p>\n
Even he, as a councillor, was not sure of the situation regarding the relocation, he said.<\/p>\n
“I’m in the face of this protest. I need to give them answers, but even I don’t know what is going on.<\/p>\n
“A meeting was secured for tonight, but now the situation has overtaken us, and we are talking about a big crowd wanting answers now.<\/p>\n
“It’s no longer about the move, it’s now about water, housing, sanitation.”<\/p>\n
Mafokwane said that although the DA controlled the ward politically, the African National Congress-run council controlled the resources.<\/p>\n
“Leaving aside whether the protest is legal or illegal, their concerns are legitimate, they are valid, make no mistake,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Kya Sand protest is the latest in a number of protests around the country in the past 10 days, including protests in Heidelberg in Gauteng and Hangberg in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n
Apart from a protest at a church in Evaton, that appeared to be connected to allegations of Satanism, the other protests were intended to draw attention to housing, water, electricity and education complaints.<\/p>\n
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa visited the site of protests in the farming area of Heidelberg last week.<\/p>\n
The ANC has urged people to be patient with the government’s pace of installing utilities and providing housing.<\/p>\n
The Kya Sand informal settlement was established in the past two decades, on a tract of land originally surrounded by farms and agricultural holdings.<\/p>\n
Since then it has changed into a light industrial and retail zone. – Sapa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Meggan Saville and Jenni Evans Tear gas was fired at protesting residents of Kya Sand, north of Johannesburg, on Monday afternoon, Gauteng police said. Lt-Col Lungelo Dlamini said a small group of protesters started throwing stones at police escorting them back to the Inadan informal settlement. Police retaliated by firing gas canisters at those … Continue reading “Riots in black area north of Johannesburg”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[64,313,314,315,111,12250],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-anc","tag-kya-sands","tag-nathi-mthetwa","tag-protests","tag-riots","tag-south-africa"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}