Residents in Freedom Park and Eldorado Park are tired of the talking and the promises.

They say they have run out of patience for debates, and that instead they want to see existing policies and agreements implemented.

Debates about land have been had, say Freedom Park residents, and that it’s now time for implementation of policies that will see them become owners of land. If the government fails to act on the land issue now, they would, residents declared on Wednesday.

Hundreds of residents from several townships to the south of Joburg held protests on Wednesday that saw roads blocked, stones hurled and rubber bullets fired by police.

The action meant that schoolchildren could not get to school following the long weekend and residents attempting to get to work were turned back.

“There is no transport to school,” said Grade 12 pupil Simphiwe Motaung from Freedom Park, adding that the school was 12km away and too far for him to walk there.

Speaking to Daily Maverick, residents of Freedom Park decried their lack of employment, saying the reason for this was the ignorance of ANC-led regimes over the years.

They say each morning residents queue for jobs in nearby factories in Develand, but even the factories have reached their limited hiring capacity.

Siphelele Fakude, 24, left his home in Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape with the hope of finding a job, but after over a year of futile searching, he teamed up with a friend and opened a fruit stall in Freedom Park.

He said he was concerned that his business might suffer because of the strike.

“It’s quite scary,” said Fakude.

In Eldorado Park, residents said unemployment was due to lack of political will and a failure to recognise coloureds as a legitimate community of people. A resident who only wanted to go by the name Keet said the current and previous regimes have ignored the community for the sole reason that they are coloured while communities around Eldorado Park were being uplifted.

“We still don’t have houses after so many years, why is that the case when development is happening all around Eldorado Park?” Keet asked.

He said residents have been told that there is no budget for housing development in Eldorado Park.

“We refuse to be harassed, we refuse to be . We won’t back down until our demands are met. Freedom Park and Lehae are also part of our protests.”

He said the people of Lehae and Freedom Park were prepared to share the piece of land at Southern Farm with coloured people, which he vowed they would occupy.

“Our issues are housing, marginalisation and economic as well as community upliftment. Our police stations, our kids don’t get placements there, our health centres, clinics – our kids are not getting placements there. It’s a pure act of marginalisation by the current regime, and it’s an old issue,” he said.

He said coloured people are defined as a community without land.

“Our ancestors are the Khoisan. We know our roots, and we are citizens in this country,” he said.

Keet said the protests would be recurring until the government satisfactorily addressed the communities concerns. The community demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa attend a gathering at the Eldorado Park Stadium to listen to residents speak about the issues affecting them.

Wednesday’s protests were far from peaceful.

Eldorado Park youth ran circles around police as protest leaders tried to keep them away from businesses in the area in the fear that they would loot. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Police officers were forced to engage with groups of youths burning rubble and tyres along the Golden Highway where the free flow of traffic was constantly disrupted.

“You must work for that house,” said a female officer, speaking to a group of Eldorado Park youth, the oldest of which could have been 16. “How can you get a house while you are here?” asked her male colleague.

The three main organisations at the forefront of the strikes are the Local Development Economic Civil Association, the Gauteng Civic Association, and the Soweto Action Committee.

Leaders of the three groups said their grievances have been ignored for far too long. They demanded action and threatened to remain on the streets if they did not hear from authorities.

“I applied for a house in 2013 but I still live in a shack because the housing department tells me it does not have a house for me. They do not say why I can’t have a house,” said Sarah Pieterse, a 74-year-old pensioner from Eldorado Park.

Protests also took place in Lehae, Finetown, Meadowlands, Pimville and parts of Lenasia.

Attempts to get comment from the City of Joburg were unsuccessful.

Police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini said no arrests had been made during the protests. Johannesburg Metro police and the SAPS would monitor the area and would continue to do so overnight, Dlamini said. DM