EFF members in Sunnyside ward 81, Pretoria marched to the local police station demanding action against the high crime rate in the area.
The march was led by EFF ward 81 chairperson Majuba Mauwane who told Tshwane Talks that the Sunnyside residents experience a variety of criminal activities such as robbery, mugging, assaults, rape and harassment.
“There are lots of robberies during the night from 12am until 2am.
There is lots of night clubs around Robert Sobukwe Street where people coming back from the entertainment establishments are being mugged, stabbed and violated.
“We demand visible of police presence on daily basis at the identified hotspots so that residents of Sunnyside can walk free without fear,” Majuba said.
Sunnyside Police Station commander Brigadier Matshidiso Kgwadi received the memorandum.
The march then proceeded to Huurkor property administrators’ offices (they administer most of the flats in Sunnyside) where the EFF demanded the reduction of service fees in the area.
Majuba says the march to Huurkoor is not an act of intimidation to Huurkor but rather an intervention intended to mediate and find ways of strengthening relations between Huurkor and the community of Sunnyside, its tenants and workers.
“We demand Huurkor to pay all its employees based on the quality of work they produce and nothing below minimum wage.
We want all the flats managed and owned by Huurkor to be renovated at least once a year and local companies should be appointed to do the work not old, retired people who are relatives to Huurkor owners,” says Majuba.
“We give Huurkor 14 days to implement the aforementioned demands, should they fail to comply, EFF ward 81 will mobilize all tenants in Sunnyside contracted to Huurkor to withhold rentals until further notice,” he said.
Director at Huurkor Dannie Muller received the memorandum and told the marchers “We are managing the flats on behalf of the owners.
We just rending it out to owners so if the owners don’t give us permission to renovate the flats, we cannot do that because it is not our money it is the owners money,” he said.
Muller concluded by saying “We going to respond in 14 days as we are understanding the tenants’ frustrations. We are willing to help the tenants even though we are the middlemen,” he said.
