BY Dumisile Magagula – this post first appeared at Tunatazama
Name: Dumisile Magagula Date: 23 August 2024 / Place: phase 4 area / Province: Mpumalanga Province / Municipality: Emalahleni Municipality
Due to a lack of access to land, people need a place to locate their homes. They find themselves with no choice but to build under this situation, looking at what is happening in our township. There’s no equality and we are still subjected to this kind of life that we are living, and it shows that nothing is getting better after 30 years of democracy. Access to land is what we are asking for and we will build our houses, but private companies have been provided with land us.
We are faced with this situation here in the Emalahleni area where you will find land that’s been occupied by coal mines industries. It happens every day because people need a place to stay. We have a high number of backroom dwellers and I’m not just talking about people from other provinces, I’m talking about people who are born here in Emalahleni. They need housing or land.
The whole black society is affected by this situation that is not improving. It’s getting worse day by day, black people are from poor communities that are not a conducive place to stay for human beings. We are here and we don’t have a say.
The municipality does not provide people with land or provide people with decent housing, not only a house but decent housing and a place that is not far from the city. Our policies are not in our favour as black communities, instead are oppressing us as black society. That’s where you find people go and build houses under these power lines which pose a danger to them but no one cares.
Municipalities should start now by providing people with land not to build RDP houses for the people, because even that process takes too long for people to get their houses. We are proposing that municipalities should provide land so people can build their own houses.
Those people should be removed from the power lines. There will be dangers now that rain is coming and thunderstorms. That’s where we will realize that this is a serious issue the municipality provides people with land
