Salt River residents call for change in their suburb

CAPE TOWN - Disheartened Salt River residents, who have lived in the suburb for decades, say time is running out and something needs to change.

Casting their votes at the Blackpool Sports Centre on Monday, the emotional pensioners said they were “fed up” with homelessness and the crime that the area has become notorious for.

Ebrahim Jacobs, 52, who has lived in the area for the past 25 years, said the local government needed to change.

“The local government is not doing anything, we thought they would but they have had enough chances.

“Some new party must come in. Nothing has changed here, there are still the dirty roads and, once in a blue moon, they would come clean up. We pay rates and taxes, and we need the service. If we don’t get it, it is ‘out with the old and in with the new’,” said Jacobs.

Anne Davids, 65, who arrived at the voting station with her husband, who uses a wheelchair, said she saw no reason to vote.

Davids was born in Salt River.

“I came here to bring my husband, he wants to vote. But I will not vote. What are all these political people going to do for me? Thirty-four years later, I’m still staying in a hokkie, nobody is going to give me a house.

“They make too many promises but, after this election, you won’t see them again. So where does that leave us as pensioners?,” asked Davids.

Resident Assim Davids, 69, said the area has changed.

“I was born here in Salt River, but now things have changed. There are a lot of drugs here and there are a lot of foreigners,” said Davids.

Cape Times