A street in the center of Bekkersdal in Westonaria, near the taxi rank. Residents say it has been left like this for three years after a construction company abandoned the project. Photos: Tebogo Letsie
NEWS
Despair greets him as he drives down Panya Panya, the main road in Bekkersdal, a township in Westonaria, a former mining town west of Johannesburg.
This permeates the municipality, which was established in 1945 during the apartheid regime’s forced removal of blacks from urban areas, which was then reserved for whites. Most South Africans were confined to what the regime called “black neighborhoods”.
Today, service provision is poor in Bekkersdal, which belongs to the Rand West City Municipal Council. Water pipes are leaking, drainage and sewage systems are malfunctioning, and garbage and dirt dominate the streets of this municipality.
City Press recently visited the 29th district, a year after the local government elections, to see what life was like for ordinary people. We found a community that has even given up protesting for basic services.
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Residents went to the polls again in June this year, but the low voter turnout of 34.33% told a story of their lack of confidence in political parties. The by-election ousted ANC councilor Wanelisa Moche, who was replaced by the EFF’s Lindokuhle Biyela, who garnered 54.81% of the vote.
On the other side of the municipality, the asphalt of the streets is completely gone. The road is riddled with potholes that turn into ponds when it rains.
Motorists have no choice but to drive alongside the road, maneuvering on the narrow sidewalks crowded with pedestrians. Drivers also try to avoid the stones that neighbors place on the roads to prevent cars from passing through their gardens. It is a disaster.
On a busy corner, not far from the bustling taxi rank, there is an illegal dump, in the belly of the municipality. It is above an open sewer and we found children playing a few meters away, an obvious health hazard.
“Here in Bekkersdal, the struggle is real. When the electricity goes out, it’s gone forever here. We sit on the garbage,” said a woman who lives there.
Here there are no garbage trucks to collect the containers. We don’t even have bins so we dump [our rubbish] right on the street, as you see over there.
Charles Lenka, an elderly man who lives in a small shack in Bekkersdal, told City Press that the municipality was not helping them at all.
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“There is no service [delivery]. we also throw [our rubbish] on the outskirts of the corregimiento because the municipality does not collect garbage. Roads have been damaged by those who won bids but did not complete the works,” Lenka said, adding that residents also struggled to access water.
A neighbour, Mme Annah, spoke of how life stopped when it rained, as they could not leave their houses for fear of flooding as the water gushed from the streets. She added:
As we vote for a new councilor, he [Biyela] He hasn’t even been to this section of township. Even when we need ambulances, they [paramedics] tell us that they cannot enter this section because of the stones and rocks that we have put on our sidewalks.
Meanwhile, Bethuel Munyai, EFF under-secretary for the Rand West region and party leader on the council, said his mission was the “formalization of all squatter camps in Bekkersdal, and giving them access to basic services such as water potable. , electricity and sanitation”.
Biyela shared Munyai’s sentiments, adding that after the party took over, the Red Berets began working in the municipality on electrifying the Holomisa section, an informal settlement under the 29th district. He added:
The next things we want to deliver to the people of this neighborhood are water, toilets and garbage containers for each house… and to repair the roads.
In Khutsong, a municipality 50 km from Bekkersdal, the situation is no different. Those who are lucky enough to have trash cans complain that the municipality does not collect the rubbish. Almost every street corner has illegally dumped garbage. Worse yet, the parks for children to play are also dumping grounds in Khutsong.
Stinky garbage is dumped illegally, including in front of the Bekkersdal police station
Desperate unemployment and drug abuse in Khutsong is leading to vandalism with the community watching as these two were stealing a signpost which is later to be sold at a junkyard. PHOTO: TEBOGO LETSIE
Opportunity An unemployed young man fills potholes with dirt and asks for R2’s from passing motorists in Khutsong. Residents say poor service delivery has continued despite a change in political leadership in the area.
A street in the center of Bekkersdal in Westonaria, near the taxi rank. Residents say it has been left like this for three years after a construction company abandoned the project. Photos: Tebogo Letsie
Health hazard Children play near a rubbish heap and an open storm drain in one of the streets of Bekkersdal in Westonaria
