The desperate need for land, proper housing and basic services is leading to increased levels of tension, including protest action, in some parts of the country.
As the government struggles to fulfil expectations, tensions ran high this week at several townships and informal settlements in the South of Johannesburg.
On the one hand, the communities of Zakariyya Park, Migson Manor, Ennerdale, Lenasia South and Lakeview are hoping for a decent life and on the other, neighbours who have it are trying to protect it.
Lakeview Extension 4, also known as Kavukiland, is just a stone’s throw away from Ennerdale. It is one of several areas in Johannesburg South that came under attack when residents in formal housing accused shack owners of amongst others, electricity theft and devaluing their properties.
This is the sad reality where socio-economic conditions are pitting neighbours against each other.
Anneliese Scott moved to Lakeview in March. She paid a once-off R3500 to have a shack built. She was one of the Ennerdale residents on the receiving end of neighbours’ anger.
The neighbours accuse the residents are of devaluing their properties and stealing electricity from their homes.
Scott does not dispute that it is happening, but she asks ‘where should they go?’
