Tshikota is burning

Angry residents of Tshikota came out in large numbers and set a hostel alight because the Makhado Municipality ignored the presence of “illegal immigrants and criminals” in the unused hostel block.

The incident that shocked the whole of the Makhado area and surrounding villages happened at around 16:00 on Tuesday.

Residents, who had barricaded the road in front the hostel and were busy smashing windows and fuelling the fire, were heard speaking loudly that the hostel harboured criminals who had been terrorising the locals for a long time. “We told the municipality many times to give the rooms in the hostel to poor locals who have nowhere to live, or else demolish the hostel blocks because Zimbabwean criminals use the place,” said a resident. “You can't even send a child to the spaza shop for fear of these thugs. They mug us and run into the dark hostel. Who knows what will happen if you follow them into the dark?”

The Makhado Fire Brigade arrived at the scene, but the women and youths warned them not to extinguish the flames. “If you put out the fire, you won't get out of the hostel yard,” warned infuriated residents. “We want the hostel to burn to ashes, so that these criminals will have nowhere to hide.”

While residents were engaged in burning the hostel, several hostel dwellers were seen near their belongings at the back of the hostel. “We steal from nobody, and this is the only place I call home ever since I arrived in South Africa some three years ago,” said Nkosinathi Dube (38), who originally comes from Gwanda in Zimbabwe. Dube maintains that, for survival, he scouts scrap matter around town, which he then sells to scrapyard dealers for cash.

Terrance Shuro (23) and Joseph Mugwabana (51) echoed Dube's sentiments. “I am a Muvenda of Ha-Mandiwana in Nzhelele,” explained Mugwabana. “I am no criminal. I work in town and sleep here because I can't afford to go home every day.”

At around 19:35, more hostel dwellers returned. Some spoke Shona, while others were heard speaking about their plight in XiTsonga and Tshivenda. “My home is in Malamulele. Maybe there are thieves among us here, but I am not one,” said another man, who didn't wish to disclose his name.

A security guard in the hostel quickly gathered his mattress, blankets and other personal belongings from one of the rooms and rushed away.

Cllr Abraham du Plooy (Ward 21) indicated that the municipality was aware of the problematic hostel issue in Tshikota, where there are also 130 useless RDP houses which are the result of a failed project. “This is a provincial issue, and Coghsta is reportedly busy dealing with the case,” said Du Plooy.

“However, on the issue of the said criminals, all I can say is that I brought the problem to the municipality's attention after my many visits to the hostel. I always find covers of freshly ripped copper cables strewn everywhere, which shows that these cables were stolen somewhere around town.”

Provincial police's spokesperson Col Ronèl Otto confirmed the incident and said that residents went on the rampage after rumours that a Zimbabwean male had broken into and stolen from a spaza shop. “We are still gathering more information on this incident,” Otto said.

Date:29 November 2013

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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