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Gauteng government intervenes in Eesterust protest

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The provincial Gauteng government has stepped in to calm protesting Eesterust residents in the east of Pretoria. Human Settlements MEC,Uhuru Moiloa, visited the area after residents expressed their dissatisfaction with Tshwane Mayor, Solly Msimanga.

Residents are demanding housing and better service delivery. On the third day of the protest action, roads were blocked with burning tyres and rocks. The issues is a lack of housing and regular power cuts.

Residents are also angry that they haven’t seen Mayor Msimanga since protests broke out this week.

“The community is fed up, totally fed up and we going to change him as mayor if he doesn’t get here in the next few days and concern is not just about housing, service delivery, there is no water, there is no lights and there is no security by our school. “

The Gauteng government stepped in.

“The people want houses here but there is no land in to build houses in Eersterust, government programmes are building in Nellmaphias which is really in close proximity to here,” says  Gauteng Human Settlements MEC, Uhuru Moiloa.

The latest round of protests follows the arrest of 16 suspects following an overnight attack on a police station which saw a service pistol being stolen.

“They were just ambushed sort of and the community just jumped in there, took the items they took but you have to understand we got the situation under control later and now people are arrested,” says SAPS spokesperson, Colonel Brenda Muridili.

Community leaders have called for the protest to be suspended while they engage authorities.

Trying to defuse the tension and on-going protest action, Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga has met community leaders at an undisclosed location. Initially he had said he would not be bullied into meeting violent protesters.

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