We were better off under apartheid‚ say EC villagers
Malibongwe Dayimani | 21 July, 2016 18:24 | Sunday Times |
"We shot ourselves in the foot by toppling the apartheid government‚" residents of an Eastern Cape village said on Thursday.
Tsholomnqa villagers had been waiting for a tarred road and decent houses for decades‚ said community leader‚ Wele Ntshongola.
He said the dawn of democracy had marked the beginning of the collapse of quality service delivery for the Eastern Cape rural area which is situated on the R72 outside East London.
"This village was in a good state under the Ciskei homeland led by LL Sebe. We used to have a tarred road... with workers who used to maintain it as well as free seed‚ crops and livestock." He said they celebrated when democracy dawned. "Little did we know that democracy would bring more oppression.
This democracy is not for everyone and poor rural dwellers are bearing the brunt." Ntshongola claims the villagers of are mostly ANC supporters and should be prioritised by the government.
"I am not saying that I agree with the policies or laws of apartheid‚ but at least we were getting service delivery back then."