Forty-one years after apartheid security forces killed protesters in Duncan Village, residents say the township is still battling many of the problems they believe the liberation struggle was meant to overcome.
Tuesday marks exactly 41 years since the Duncan Village massacre, where between 19 and 23 people were killed when police and security forces fired on mourners and protesters returning from the funeral of slain United Democratic Front (UDF) leader Victoria Mxenge.
The protest left government buildings, rent offices, community centres and the homes of state-aligned councillors in flames.
Today, overcrowded informal settlements, unemployment, flooding, sewage spillages and poor infrastructure remain major concerns in the township as residents prepare to mark the 41st anniversary.
For some residents, remembering those who died has become inseparable from questioning the progress made since democracy.
Ntombewonga Booi, 57, of C-Section, said residents had paid a heavy price during the struggle, but many were still living in unacceptable conditions.
“A lot of people died during the massacre and it seems like we are still living under apartheid conditions today.
“The people who died here made sacrifices for freedom and those sacrifices should never be forgotten,” she said.
Booi said overcrowding was among the township’s biggest problems.
“When one family moves into a formal house, another shack goes up somewhere else,” she said.
“Sewage is overflowing in our roads and toilets are blocked in our area. They want us to vote, but they do nothing for us.”
Meanwhile, 46-year-old Phindiwe Vumani said though she was too young to remember the events, her politically active father regularly told her about what happened.
She returned to Duncan Village in 1996 after spending much of her childhood on a farm in Mooiplaas.
“But when I came back, Duncan Village was very different. There were nowhere near as many shacks as there are today,” she said.
Vumani said flooding, lawlessness and unemployment had become major frustrations.
“We have so many unemployed people and there seems to be less and less interest in politics because people ask themselves, ‘What are we going to benefit?’”
The events of August 11 1985 happened against the backdrop of growing resistance to apartheid.
Duncan Village had become a centre of political mobilisation.
Tensions intensified after Mxenge was assassinated outside her Umlazi home on August 1 that year.
Her funeral in KwaRhayi drew thousands of mourners from across the country.
When mourners returned to Duncan Village on August 11, tensions escalated.
According to current BCM councillor Mike Basopu, who was involved in civic leadership at the time, confrontations began after security forces entered the township.
Residents attacked buildings associated with the apartheid administration, including government and municipal facilities and police properties.
Barricades were erected before police responded with teargas and firearms.
The confrontation turned deadly.
Basopu said the violence also claimed the life of a two-year-old child exposed to teargas.
The unrest continued for several days before security forces regained control and intensified the crackdown on activists.
Basopu was among those detained.
Basopu said Duncan Village had seen development since 1994, but much more still needed to be done.
He said R140m made available by former president Nelson Mandela was used to build schools and other facilities.
“There are schools now that were not there before. There are clinics, libraries and other facilities.
“We cannot say there has been no development.
“But you still find shacks in Duncan Village, you still find sewage in the streets. That is not what we fought for.”
He blamed poor leadership and corruption for slowing development.
“There have been changes, yes. But when you look at the conditions many people are still living under, you have to ask whether this is really what people died for,” he said.
Responding to the criticism, Buffalo City Metro rejected the suggestion that little had changed in Duncan Village.
Municipal spokesperson Luzuko Buku said the municipality recognised the sacrifices made by residents but urged that the anniversary also acknowledge improvements.
“While living conditions are not yet where we would like them to be, service provision has improved significantly,” Buku said.
He said electricity had been extended to areas that previously had none, while communal ablution facilities had been expanded and cleaned regularly.
Buku said overcrowding remained the township’s biggest challenge and that the municipality’s de-densification programme was central to addressing it.
The municipality plans to build 5,000 permanent housing units and move about 3,200 households out of the township.
He said road upgrades and electricity installations had also been undertaken, while the Buffalo City Metropolitan Development Agency was implementing the Duncan Village Integrated Solid Waste Management Programme.
On persistent sewer spillages, Buku said the municipality was implementing interventions to unblock sewer lines and expand network capacity.
He acknowledged that Duncan Village remained a “complex historical challenge”, but said the municipality was committed to addressing its development problems.
Daily Dispatch
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