Eldorado Park communities unite to demand answers on housing crisis
Communities in Eldorado Park says they have still not received adequate answers from Human settlements minister Lindiwe Sisulu or Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba.
Housing-related protests have been a feature of life in the south of Johannesburg since the start of the year, and now the different communities have decided to join forces in a call for land redistribution, better housing and job creation.
Chairperson of the Greater Gauteng Civic Association, Weizzman Hamilton, says Sisulu and Mashaba need to provide the community with answers.
“We want to know what the concrete plans are for the provision of housing, clearance of the housing backlog, for the program that government has committed to of eradicating informal settlements. Since the protest, there have been high-profile engagements with selected communities with government, and we do not want that hence we need to unite under the same banner.”
Hamilton says have asked both Sisulu and Mashaba to attend Saturday’s rally Eldorado Park.
“What we conscious of is that in the period lying ahead, government will tell us about budgets, about the state of the economy. We are not willing to accept responsibility for the incompetence of those who knowingly took the step of reshuffling the cabinet despite clear indications that this will get us into a junk status."
Hamilton says they will also invite other communities in Gauteng, who are struggling with housing and service delivery, to join the organisation.