Durban — In a last push as elections edge closer, IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa got his hands dirty during a clean-up campaign at the eMathinini Transit Camp in Lamontville on Monday.
His visit followed a Daily News article last week that exposed the squalid living conditions at the transit camp where some residents have been living since 2008.
Hlabisa – accompanied by the party’s senior leadership including spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa – cleaned the flea-infested transit camp.
He bemoaned the poor state of the camp and lambasted the ANC for “neglecting” downtrodden citizens.
“We came here today because the ANC has completely turned a blind eye to the plight of millions of poor South Africans. This is not acceptable.”
The transit camp comprises oneroom corrugated iron shacks that house thousands of people, including children.
As the IFP fights to dislodge the ANC from power, Hlabisa said if people elected the IFP, the party would provide proper houses with proper sanitation.
“No person shall live in a filthy place like this. But we are not shocked because everything is crumbling under the ANC-led government.
“People must vote for us so that we can give them better houses,” he said.
IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa rolled up his sleeves during a clean-up at a transit camp in Lamontville, south of Durban. | @lunganizungu pic.twitter.com/Q0ZncAArkP
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Leading from the front, Hlabisa led a group of IFP leaders and supporters in cleaning up the transit camp where thousands of people live, all victims of the 2008 flash floods.
It has been 16 years now that the residents have spent at the camp as they wait for the government to provide proper houses.
Making matters worse was the lack of services as a pile of rubbish remained uncollected, and the makeshift toilets were in a poor state. Some did not work at all, while others were broken.
Hlabisa said the IFP was the only hope for the thousands of residents who lived at the transit camp.
“We came here so that the people can see we truly care for them. This is also to say that we will continue caring for them if they vote for us.”
The IFP was well on track to reclaiming KwaZulu-Natal from the ANC at the May 29 elections, he said.
“The signs are there. We can’t wait to take over the government and be able to remove people from these inhumane transit camps,” he said.
The IFP lost the province to the ANC during the 2004 national elections, after having been in power since the first democratic elections in 1994. Hlabisa, armed with a garden rake, pulled the pile of rubbish leading to a “stomach-turning stench” filling the air.
Other members, who wore gloves and face masks, picked up the trash and loaded it on to wheelbarrows.
Some residents jumped into action, joining the clean-up campaign, although some expressed frustration at only seeing politicians during the election season.
A resident, Thabiso Ngema, said: “We are happy that some politicians do remember us, but this only happens during elections. No one comes here if it is not the election season.”
Ngema was among the first people to relocate to the transit camp when his house was washed away in 2008.
IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa during his clean-up campaign in a transit camp in Lamontville, south of Durban. Video: @lunganizungu pic.twitter.com/ebfcEiogVV
IFP member Dr Bonginkosi Buthelezi, who was part of the clean-up campaign, said the living conditions at the camp were a recipe for a string of diseases – including tuberculosis.
“The smell here is just horrible. There are flies everywhere and this could result in people getting infected with diseases that would easily spread from one person to the next,” he said.
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