A group calling itself the Gauteng Shutdown Co-ordinating Committee says recent protests in Westbury, Eldorado Park and Ennerdale in Johannesburg, are a taste of things to come.
The committee will be meeting with representatives of predominantly coloured communities on Sunday, in Eldorado Park, to discuss the way forward.
Committee member Anthony Williams says the problems of drugs and gangsterism and related crimes in these areas, are symptoms of a deep underlying issue. He says coloured people have been forgotten.
“Every single week, you are going to see these communities and including those who are coming out in solidarity. You are going to see a massive, massive movement across the entire country. We are very clear, we are not a separatist movement, but we must be realistic. This group of people for the last 24 years in South Africa has been put on the sidelines. But we are now saying ‘we are taking out our outrage in South Africa’.”
‘Frustrations centred around citizenship’
Social commentator and Eldorado Park resident Dr Leonard Martin says the frustrations of the coloured community are centred around their citizenship.
The organisers of the protests in Ennerdale and Eldorado Park, south of the city, have vowed to continue with the action until President Cyril Ramaphosa and Gauteng premier David Makhura pledge to find solutions to gangsterism and related crimes in their areas.
They accuse the government of excluding them from its empowerment policies such as BEE and Affirmative Action.
Martins says what’s happening now is inevitable, “Are we having the citizenship that actually addresses the needs of all South Africans, in relation to the social, cultural, economic and political issues. And that’s where the issue of marginalisation becomes very stark because it is inter-woven with things that were not undone after apartheid.”
More arrests in Westbury
Meanwhile, Police have confirmed arresting eight people in Westbury in connection with murder and illegal possession of drugs. They say the arrests were made on Friday.
This as police heighten their visibility in the area after the community lamented the presence of drugs and gangsterism in the area.
A firearm and drugs were recovered during the operation. Police have encouraged community members to continue reporting crime in the area.
