Motherwell shack dwellers demand services

A group of residents from the Nomakanjani informal settlement in Motherwell, clad in EFF T-shirts, protested outside the Nelson Mandela Bay council chamber on Thursday, demanding serviced land on which to erect their shacks.

They sang and chanted outside the old Woolboard exchange building, demanding an audience with mayor Mongameli Bobani.

Speaking to Bobani, Nomakanjani resident, Dumile Khoboka, said they were cramped like sardines at the informal settlement and wanted the municipality to provide services while they wait to either be relocated or for RDP houses.

"We want what was promised to us instead of being told lies. We want each child after a certain age to have their own homes so people can stop living with their grandparents.

"We used candles, take electricity from houses across us and we want to stop stealing electricity because these cause shack fires and people die.

"We've told the councillor what we want which is why we came here to speak to the mayor ourselves," Khoboka said.

The protesters were met and addressed by Bobani who was accompanied by ANC councillors Andile Lungisa and Makhi Feni.

Addressing the crowd Bobani promised to respond to the issues raised within seven days, saying he first had to sit down with officials from the relevant departments.