Almost 3 000 households were relocated from the farms to Jakaranda and Ratanang by the Matlosana local municipality, with the promise of a better life almost 11-years ago.
Violet Moleme said she led a group of community members to the North West High Court in 2012 to demand the land and it was awarded to them after they donated money to march to the High Court.
“The community members were donating R10s, R20s because the farm owner was evicting us, the court ruled in our favour and granted us that portion of the land, but the local municipality afterward governed it. Now they act as if it’s their land, but it’s ours, we fought for it, all we’re asking is to be formally allocated with stands so that we own the land,” she said.
But today Moleme together with irate community members took to the streets demanding that they be given what they have been promised, RDP houses and free stands to build their dream homes.
This is not the first time that the residents have staged a protest march. They have been to their local Matlosana Municipality with their demands but got no help.
Today they marched to the Department of Human Settlement and delivered a memorandum but there too the officials said their demands and the timelines they have set were unreasonable.
An unhappy Tshepo Mokgethi said the authorities forget that they are the ones who are electing them, “if they do not deliver on their promises, we are the ones again who are feeling the heat”.
Truckers who feared the march could turn violent, parked their trucks alongside the N12. The drivers said the ongoing protests were affecting their jobs.
Brian Ramaposhi said: “It’s risky, when we see a group gathering, we call the company and we are always advised to stop until the police tell us that it’s clear and safe for us to go,” he said.
Another truck driver Solly Malebana said the trucks bringing food were the most affected.
“Its risky for us because they know that if they stop us, they will go home with a lot of food, so we have a Whatsapp group and we are alerted each time that there is a protest but sometimes we only see it when its too late and the notification has not yet arrived,” he said.
