Sharpeville: “These politicians just come and create a spectacle”

The roads in Sharpeville are potholed and some are impassable.

On the roads leading up to the George Thabe Stadium in Sharpeville, the venue for government’s official Human Rights Day commemoration, dozens of men were cutting the grass, earth-moving equipment was cleaning up uncollected rubbish, and electricians were busy fixing street lights. People in Sharpeville say this is the only time of the year when they see some sort of local government service delivery.

“Every year is the same story – they come in a few weeks before Human Rights Day and do some cosmetic work because the big politicians will be driving along these roads. Then they leave and we don’t see any service delivery till next year,” said Godfrey Hlongwane as he watched the workers from the front porch of his home.

Hlongwane described the state of the township as depressing. He thinks the money the government spends on the event would be better spent on improving the township.

A child sits on a bag of recycled materials while his mother searches for recyclables at a nearby rubbish dump in Sharpeville.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre when the apartheid regime’s police gunned down at least 69 people protesting against pass laws on 21 March 1960.

Located next to Vanderbijlpark about 70km south of Johannesburg, Sharpeville has uncollected rubbish piling up on street corners, open raw sewage, and roads so potholed they are almost impassable.

Uncollected trash piles up on a street corner in Sharpeville.

Sharpeville falls under the Emfuleni Local Municipality. Headed by ANC Mayor Sipho Radebe, it is one of the poorest performing municipalities in Gauteng and has been placed under administration several times.

Recently, Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Jacob Mamabolo indicated that the Emfuleni Local Municipality had failed to spend R636-million of its Municipal Infrastructure Grant. Emfuleni was given R914-million in the past five financial years but only spent R278-million, despite collapsing infrastructure and service failures.

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Mayor Sipho Radebe blamed the underspending on his administration’s inability to access its bank accounts after creditors, like Eskom, attached the accounts.

A young man searches for recyclable materials in a rubbish dump in Sharpeville.

“Sharpeville is an iconic place in the history of South Africa. Our people’s blood flowed through these streets. Our Constitution was signed here but the people here don’t have their constitutional rights recognised. Isn’t that ironic?” resident Able Radebe told GroundUp.

“Unemployment and crime go hand in hand. As the unemployment levels have grown so have the levels of crime. It is now very unsafe to walk around here after dark,” said Radebe.

Born and raised in Sharpeville, Mankamo Malikoe was seven at the time of the Sharpeville massacre. She laments the fact that she is still living in a small shack.

Born and raised in Sharpeville, 72-year-old Mankamo Malikoe was seven years old at the time of the Sharpeville massacre. She is still living in a small shack, without basic amenities, in an informal settlement built on an old cemetery, named Hlala Kwabafileyo (a place of the dead).

Dressed in her bright yellow church uniform, she has to walk to the main road because “taxis don’t even come down this way anymore”, she says, gesturing at the potholed state of the road.

Malikoe’s aunt, Mamotshabi, was among those massacred by the police. She was 21 and pregnant.

“I will go to the cemetery and pay my respects to my aunt on the day before Human Rights Day. On the day itself the cemetery is full of these politicians who just come and create a spectacle. Human rights? What human rights? I have lived here all my life, I can tell you I don’t have my human rights,” said Malikoe.

The gravestone of Maria Molebatsi, who was just 13 when she was killed 65 years ago in Sharpeville.

Sharpeville resident Dess Moeti opened a sneaker cleaning business outside his home to earn an income as jobs are scarce in the township.

The Sharpeville massacre memorial.

An aerial view at the Phelindaba Cemetery shows the graves of victims of the Sharpeville massacre in a white line.

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