A group of 11 boys aged ten years and younger are playing soccer, barefoot or wearing torn old shoes, on a bit of land under a bridge in Newtown, Johannesburg. This is the Bekezela Football Team and one of their most precious gifts is an outsize soccer kit which their coach believes even the smallest boys will grow into. But their home in a dilapidated old railway college may now be under threat, as the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa tries to find ways to get its buildings back.
Besides keeping young children off the streets through the Bekezela Football Club, the residents run a crèche, counselling for women who have survived domestic abuse, a waste picking project, and soup kitchen when donations come in. They have established a vegetable garden. Most are unemployed and struggle to feed their families. The whole community shares seven toilets and they have no electricity.
“Should Prasa want to move us we should be provided with proper homes for all. We also want to be compensated. But as this might be more costly they should just give us the place,” Khumalo says. “Moving people from here will jeopardise lives. We have vulnerable women who need support because they end up succumbing to drug and alcohol abuse due to the difficult lives people lead here in Joburg. Prasa should think twice before moving us,” Moshoadiba said.
“The rail business will never reach a stage where it is self-sufficient if land invasions like this continue unabated,” she said.
AzizAlly16
A bit late for that 🤷🏽♂️