A human rights group, Intlungu yaseMatyotyombeni Movement (Pain of the Slums) on Monday marched to the office of Western Cape Premier Alan Winde with the intention to handover their demands for basic services in their newly established settlements.
According to IOL, the group boarded taxis in Khayelitsha and neighbouring townships, and made their way to the office of the premier.
“We see ourselves as outsiders, not people who belong to South Africa. We are treated as animals under a difficult period on corona, and we are still expected to be healthy citizens during the pandemic,” the movement’s chairperson Xoliswa Tsholoba was quoted as saying.
The Intlungu yaseMatyotyombeni Movement, a group of shack dwellers, from Khayelitsha and neighbouring townships, making their way to premier @alanwinde in an effort to get him provide services in their newly established settlements. @TheCapeArgus @IOL pic.twitter.com/kf8PWcp7BO
— Sisonke Mlamla (@SISONKE_MD) May 10, 2021
Tsholoba said the movement was based in areas occupied during the COVID-19 pandemic, since June last year. She said they were without access to water, toilets, electricity, and housing.
When the group was told that Winde was not in his office, they refused to handover their memorandum of demands to the director-general in the department of the premier, Harry Malila.
Malila had been asked to accept the memorandum on behalf of the Western Cape government.
“Senzeni na” one of the songs sang by the group of shack dwellers from Khayelitsha and neighbouring townships ‘Intlungu YaseMatyotyombeni movement’. The group says they want to give their memorandum of demands to @alanwinde himself, not his directors. @TheCapeArgus @IOL https://t.co/JaVSMCPtt6 pic.twitter.com/0LjHGeRnGT
— Sisonke Mlamla (@SISONKE_MD) May 10, 2021
In March this year, the movement was at the forefront of protests in the metro municipality, affecting major roads, causing long delays and increasing public tension.
Tsholoba told Mail&Guardian at the time: “We are human beings, South African citizens. We fight for our people to earn a better living. We demand change.”
Picture: Twitter/@VoicesFarm
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