By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za
After flooded calls were made, urging Alex Reporter to step in and rescue the residents trapped at 52 3rd Avenue in Alexandra, Johannesburg , I had to do something!
A resident, Rosinah Seshabela (28), says the yard has 18 families.
“We have been locked up in the yard by a wall. We can’t get out of the yard, except to jump,”she said.
Seshabela said that the wall, also affected the grandmother of 93 years, a woman with a disability, school children and toddlers.
And the workers are forced to jump the risky wall, built recently, after another family allegedly cried over crime in the area, leading to the closure of the entrance.
“We have consulted all the relevant structures (housing department, councillors and police) but they have not managed to help us.
“School children must jump the wall in order to go to school. The grandmother is not in a position to be vaccinated, and we also have an 8-month-old pregnant woman trapped.
“We’re now using 51-4th Avenue entrance because there’s a guy who built a double floor on our driveway,” said Seshabela.
When I arrived, I saw a woman struggling horribly to jump the wall towards her place of residence. Sadly, I had to climb the wall too.
The first people I laid eyes on were innocent children.
I immediately asked myself what would happen if the place caught fire, because it is congested.
I was told that Danny Ndzodza is the one who initially closed the entrance that the residents used before.
When I approached Ndzodza, he was upstairs eating.
Ndzodza said:” Then now they called a journalist… why didn’t they call you before?”
He claimed that the first people to come and harass him were the police, the housing department, the councillors, ANC officials, followed by residents who had disrespected him.
“They forgot that this is my yard and I had the right to extend my house.”
He said he would have opened the door for them a long time ago if they came in peace.
“Even small children shouted and insulted me. They showed me a lack of respect,” he fumed.
We talked for nearly an hour until the cold broke into my skin, because I had not put on warmer clothes. In spite of the long conversation, I tried to find a friendly solution for both parties.
While I continued to beg him, another resident, Thembikazi Maxhangasana, who lived in the area since 2019, came to kneel, begging Ndzondza to create a way.
He eventually agreed that he would make a way on a Friday, only if the residents in question did not screw up.
