Taking their shot

Silverleaf Road is always in a bad state.

This election year has seen communities across the country taking to the streets to press home demands for better living conditions.

There has been a spate of protests and some pointing of fingers at certain political parties for trying to incite violence and unrest.

That might be the case or it could also be that people long left out in the cold know they have their best shot at getting what they want from politicians while they’re at their most vulnerable, trying to apply fresh lipstick and fake-fairy wings to a pigsty-worth of old promises. Joe Slovo residents say their votes have yet to bring them clean streets or working drains and sewers.

Take a stroll in the streets of Joe Slovo and it’s easy to see why people are upset – there’s little evidence of government fulfilling any sort of civic duty to the community.

The streets are narrow and choked with rubbish and dirty water and sewage. There are no pavements.

If you can read a neighbourhood’s streets like the lines on the palm of someone’s hand, then the future is not a happy place for Joe Slovo.