by Joel Pearson,
Thinking Africa Newsletter
Life is arduous for the people of eThembeni informal
settlement on the outskirts of Grahamstown. They live without electricity, and
water must be collected from one of only a few taps which frequently run dry.
Last year, a couple died in a shack fire that community members were unable to
fight because there were no taps nearby. Fire trucks could not enter the
settlement because there is no adequate road leading into it. The region’s dry,
hot summers are felt most acutely here, and winter rains turn the
sparsely-vegetated plateau on which people have built their houses into a muddy
deluge. It should be no surprise that promises made by well-meaning visitors
are received with an air of scepticism – they seldom materialise. And indeed
promises have come from many, most enthusiastically from the politicians who
make the rounds as election season approaches, giving full assurance that “service
delivery” will happen tomorrow, that a brighter future awaits. The people of
eThembeni are still waiting.
