Amalinda Forest shack dwellers took to the streets yesterday morning in a cry for attention to their housing and electricity needs in their 30-year-old settlement.
Residents braved rain to close off streets leading to the township from as early as 4am yesterday.
Large rocks and garbage were rolled and scattered across the streets.
About 500 residents and children chanted struggle songs and waved placards expressing their desperate need for electricity.
Resident Noluthando Potyo, a mother of two, said: “Yes we want houses, but can we please get electricity as of yesterday?
We have been here for decades and while other housing settlements have been built and electrified, we have been sitting awaiting our turn. Nothing has come.
“Just last week we were burying a child we lost to illegal connections. He was not the first. How many others must die before we have electricity.
“Our desperate need for electricity is what has led to us to connect the power illegally, because we are also entitled to it, it’s our basic right.”
Lwandiso Ndzendevu, a member of a delegation chosen by the community, said the darkness in the area was conducive for criminal activities.
“Crime in this area is rife because of the darkness and it is taking place more frequently over the winter period when darker for longer.
“That is why we were quick to take to the streets instead of consulting the ward councillor, because he already knows what we are going through on a daily basis.”
Buffalo City Law enforcement officers and the East London public order police unit were seen calming the situation and engaging with the disgruntled residents before they relayed the community's plight to ward 16 councillor, Mzukisi Relu.
Relu said he was “surprised” to learn about the protest saying the community had not approached him about their unhappiness.
“This destructive protest came as a surprise to me because nobody came to discuss this with me as a burning issue, but they were quick to hit to the streets,” Relu said.
“There has been a continuous love-hate relationship among the residents in formal structures and those in informal structures because others feel those without are stealing from them, while those without say they are entitled to electricity too.
Ratepayers had at times found themselves without electricity
due to the illegal connections, he said.
Relu said there was much that needed to be discussed with Buffalo City Metro to establish who the land belonged to and how feasible it was to electrify the area.
“We need to engage in discussions with all the stakeholders to find a solution on how we can get electricity in this community because it is a painful issue for all of us,” he said.
Relu encouraged the community to form a delegation which would represent them at meetings to be held with the BCM engineering and housing departments.