Our leaders should be ashamed, says DA KZN leader after transit camp sleepover

The DA’s KwaZulu-Natal leader Francois Rodgers said eThekwini municipality and provincial leadership should be embarrassed about the poor living conditions to which they have subjected people living in the KwaMathe transit camp.

Rodgers was at the transit camp in Lamontville for two nights in a bid to highlight circumstances the community — with a population of 3,000 — live under, and plans to petition the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to seek dignity for them.

He said the party was living up to the commitment it made to KwaMathe residents in the lead-up to last year’s local government elections to “listen to their challenges and get to terms with what this community has to deal with daily.”

“I was brought to this area around October, before the November elections, and I was very disheartened by the living conditions I saw. The units are 4mx3m, one bedroom units with tin roofs and corrugated boarding on the outside and an entire family has to stay in there.”

Rodgers was accommodated by Lungi Ndlela and her family. Ndlela, her husband and four children have lived in the area for 13 years.

She said no-one from the municipality has come to them to talk about finding alternatives for them or improving the sanitation in their community.

“The councillor tells you to wait and they have not forgotten about you and that’s it. Nothing ever gets done. They don’t come or send people to look at the conditions.”

Rodgers said the ablution facility was not suitable for residents. 

Each ablution block has two showers and three toilets and is used by about 150 people in most cases.

“It’s disturbing that we expect adult men, women and children from different families to use the same facilities.

“In this ablution block only one of the two showers works and two of three toilets works. The shower door doesn’t lock and the ablution door doesn’t close.”

He said he had been informed there had been rapes and assaults in the area he visited.

“Each area has its own ablution and when some toilets don’t work, people from outside this area come down to use the toilets, and that’s when they’ve had rapes and assaults happening in this ablution block.”

The DA leader said the time he spent in the KwaMathe camp had given him a better understanding of what the people experience daily. He said government and city officials should be “ashamed”.

“I'm hoping that by the coverage we’ve given on my stay here, those people who are in power, who should be looking after residents like Lungi, are embarrassed.”

He said leaders who lived in mansions should be embarrassed. 

He vowed to take the issue up at provincial level and said he would send a briefing document to the SAHRC. 

“I don’t believe people here are being treated with dignity and I don’t think their human rights are being adhered to.

“I honestly appeal to senior politicians who are responsible for the people of KwaMathe: put your pride in your pocket, put your politics in your pocket and bring dignity to the people of this area. They deserve it.”

He was also critical of government’s social relief of distress grant.

“The sum R350 for 30 days equates to about R12 a day, so it’s certainly not enough for what people need. It’s time we look at a hand up, not a hand out. We need to give people dignity. The economy and job creation should be paramount. R350 is not dignity, nor are living in conditions like I experienced over the past three days.”

Local councillor Nolubabalo Octavia Zondi could not be reached for comment. 

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