About 250 people from Rolihlahla informal settlement in Gqeberha blocked the Old Uitenhage Road with burning tyres, rocks and stormwater pipes on Thursday morning. They were demanding houses.with people from Westville informal settlement because they said their bucket toilets had not been cleaned for weeks. Two vehicles were torched during that protest.
About 280 RDP houses were built in 2004 for shack dwellers who had occupied land next to Missionvale Cemetery, but since then there has been no housing development, according to Linda Twelani, a community leader. “The 150 bungalow dwellers, including disabled families, share five toilets and one standpipe. They have no electricity and their place is muddy on wet days,” said Twelani.The 581 Rolihlahla households share 80 toilets, 30 of which have not been cleaned because the service provider’s contract was not renewed.
Ntombizanele Gosani, who built her shack in 2008, said, “I have four pit toilet holes in my yard because every time it gets full, I dig a new hole. But now I have run out of space. We want houses because we cannot live like this forever. Rubbish is not collected and we burn it near the university’s boundary wall.”