South African Police Kill two
Protesters over water
Dying for
water in Brits: Protestors' blood flows again
These
two men were shot dead, apparently by police, while residents of Madibeng
municipality were protesting about the fact that they had been deprived of
water for almost a week. Currently, few details of what transpired between
police and protestors have been established. What is clear, however, is that
the municipality has been a ticking time-bomb for some years in terms of the
shocking quality of service delivery meted out to its poorest residents.
The
municipality of Madibeng lies just 50km from Pretoria and Johannesburg, and is
home to the towns and townships of Brits, Hartebeespoort, Letlhabile, Damondsville,
Mothotlung, and Oukasie. When Madibeng has made news over the past few years,
it has invariably been for the wrong reasons. In March 2010, the Madibeng municipality was placed under administration after an audit
exposed financial mismanagement to the tune of R100
million. In June 2011, newspapers exposed the fact that the new executive mayor was renting a BMW at the cost of
R2,025 per day. In April last year, it was reported that R1 billion of assets, supposedly owned by
the municipality, were missing.
Read more………
The Daily
Maverick
http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-01-14-dying-for-water-in-brits-protestors-blood-flows-again/
