Download PDFOver the years Langaville, Extension 6 (in Brakpan on the Eastrand of Johannesburg) has been facing a number of children’s deaths who were killed by exposed electricity wires in public spaces. The people of Langaville, Ext. 6 have been living in these conditions for a very long time and year to year a child dies because of it.
“We have tried to talk to the people of the municipality but they never listened to our cries. We then went to the Councillor and she promised us that this will be fixed, but ‘till today she has not yet delivered on her promise and our children keep on dying”, said Mr Tshabalala, a resident from Ext. 6.
The exposed electricity wires is not the only problem the people of Langaville, Ext 6 face. Their streets have become very dangerous when it rains since there is no proper drainage or paved streets resulting in big potholes filled with water. Two children have reportedly fell into one and drowned as they were coming from school. The matter was reported to the Councillor as part of showing the importance of building proper streets and drainage but the Chancellor has turned a blind eye to the situation.
In response the people of Langaville protested and only then did the Chancellor request a meeting with the community but according to Mr Tshabalala, “she did what she does best and lulled the people to sleep with empty promises”.
The residents of Langaville at first gave up on the situation as they believed that there was nothing they could do. But when another one of the electricity poles in the area recently collapsed, the community came together again to organise themselves to try to fight this.
This article was submitted on 26 February 2021. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
