Durban — The IFP in KwaZulu-Natal has called on shack dwellers to help oust the ANC in the 2024 elections.
This is after fires broke out in three informal settlements in KZN in recent months, the latest being Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban over the weekend.
IFP KZN spokesperson on human settlements Satishrai Bhanprakash said that the 2024 elections are the best opportunity to punish the failed ANC government.
“The IFP, as the official opposition in the KZN legislature, says shack dwellers in KZN must take advantage of the upcoming 2024 general election to punish the ANC, which has neglected and failed them,” Bhanprakash said.
“The shack fire that destroyed hundreds of shacks in Kennedy Road, Durban, last week, is a clear indication that the ANC has failed our people. This comes on the back of devastating fires in the Dakota and Bottlebrush informal settlements in recent months. How much more must our people endure?”
Bhanprakash said that thousands of people have been staying in shacks for years, without any hope of being provided with decent houses. During winter, shacks are like freezers, and during summer, makeshift tin houses are like incinerators.
“Yet, come election time, they are lied to and used as election fodder for ANC politicians, who only seem to care about votes and to properly feather their nest and plume the bird, at the expense of the poor,” Bhanprakash said.
He said the ANC has rejected and stripped our people of their dignity. The ANC has betrayed them. It is incomprehensible that almost 30 years into democracy there are still people without houses. When the ANC came into power, it promised people a better life for all. Does ‘better life’ mean you live in a shack for your entire life?
“We would not be surprised if the ANC KZN provincial government swiftly dumped Kennedy Road shack dwellers in community halls, where they will stay for years - like the April 2022 flood victims,” Bhanprakash said.
“The IFP believes that shack dwellers must make use of the 2024 elections to punish the failed ANC government.
“The ballot box is the best tool at people’s disposal to express their pain and frustration. If they don't punish the ANC, they will continue to suffer for many years to come. If the people want change, they must change the way they vote.”
Bhanprakash said that their founding father, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, built the IFP on basic human rights.
“Proper housing is a basic human right, which cannot be ignored by the government of the day,” Bhanprakash said.
“The ANC government must be replaced, as a matter of urgency, with a new generation of leaders. The people must use their powerful franchise to elect their own leaders to better represent their ideals, their hopes, and their aspirations.”
Bhanprakash added that the IFP calls on KZN Human Settlements MEC Sipho Nkosi, to tell the public when the Kennedy Road shack dwellers will be provided with decent houses.
He said they will continue to monitor this situation closely.
Meanwhile, in January last year, the Daily News reported that Kennedy Road was one of three informal settlements that could have proper housing.
That was according to Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi, who was responding to a parliamentary written question from the EFF’s Thokozani Langa.
Kubayi said construction on the Kennedy Road Housing Project was being developed in three sub-phases.
She said first, the development of 45 sites in Dodoma Avenue (ward 25), a greenfield portion adjacent to the current settlement. Second, 198 sites in Barton Place (ward 23), also a greenfield site in close proximity to the current settlement. Lastly, 225 sites were proposed to be upgraded within the existing Kennedy Road informal settlement.
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