South African election: Cape Town’s squatters expect more ’empty promises’ as country heads to the polls
When we arrived in Egoli, a squatter settlement in the Cape Flats in South Africa, the dark tar marks of tyres burnt in protest still blackened the road.
Initial glares of suspicion only faded when we were greeted and welcomed by community leader Abraham Fransman.
“Me and my community have been living in this informal settlement for the past 28 years with little basic service.
“This doesn’t let us feel good with the politicians because right from 1994 – when the first election was out – they were saying a better life for all.
“But still, after 28 years, there’s no better life.” says 59-year-old Abraham.
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As we spoke, women gathered branches and scraps of wood to make fires to cook and heat their homes.
The community had tapped into the power grid illegally and been disconnected.
Their shacks sit on private land cut off from city infrastructure and basic services.
They have been handed eviction notice after eviction notice since 2000, as ownership of the property changes hands.
“We mustn’t vote because it doesn’t count. We don’t see democracy. We don’t see freedom. We see nothing. We only see suffering more suffering and more suffering.”
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Uncollected rubbish in Nyanga township
The elections are days away but there are few party posters here.
One lonely sign for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and none for the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), that runs the province and city.
The DA slogan “Western Cape Works” would stick out like a sore thumb – nothing here works.
“You can’t bring change. No party, not even a new party or a party you see for many years,” says Chevonne, a mother of five.
“This is the only time they come out with empty promises and as soon as they get your cross (on the ballot), they’re gone.”
In Nyanga, one of the oldest black townships in Cape Town, people are approaching the wet winter months with more fear than any post-election political upheaval.
The damage from past winter rain still marks the walls of many homes.
“We are not happy about the voting – the voting can come. But we’re not happy about it because look, I’m staying in a hole, ” says 63-year-old Younes pointing to her sunken house.
“When it’s raining, all the water is coming in here.”
As we stood in Nyanga’s streets, janitors that work for private contractors hired by the city to deliver sanitation services blast music as they empty out bucket toilets.
One of the janitors is a 22-year-old called Phuthuma.
She says life is hard and children do not have open spaces to play.
I ask her how she feels when she goes to the centre of Cape Town.
A janitor empties a bucket toilet in Nyanga
There is a silence before she reveals that she has never been.
In the distance, a cloud covers that part of Cape Town nestled in Table Mountain.
The postcard perfection that people travel thousands of miles from all over the world to visit, but the city’s own residents cannot access.
Table Mountain
Some people in Nyanga are too poor to have visited central Cape Town
“Cape Town is historically so beautiful and working-class people do not enjoy this,” longtime community activist and independent MP candidate Zackie Achmat tells us in the Company’s Garden.
It is the oldest garden in South Africa and a heritage site in the heart of Cape Town with an astonishing view of Table Mountain.
“The mountain looks different from different parts of the city. It looks further and further away as you move further away, and it looks impossible to get to and it is impossible to get to because there’s no transport. The cost of living is so high. The cost of transport is phenomenal.
“Spatial injustice has grown under the ANC in every way and under the Democratic Alliance in the city.”
A helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims has crashed in India, killing seven people on board.
The accident happened within minutes of the helicopter taking off, officials said, on what should have been a 10-minute flight.
The helicopter was flying to Guptkashi, a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas, from Kedarnath temple town in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
It comes three days after an Air India flight crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in northwestern India, killing at least 270 people.
The helicopter, which was operated by private helicopter service Aryan Aviation, went down in a forested area several miles from the Kedarnath pilgrimage route at around 5.30am local time.
Officials said the crash was believed to have been caused by poor weather conditions.
Authorities say they have launched a search and rescue operation and are expected to review operational protocols for flights in the region.
The dead include the pilot and pilgrims from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh and western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, according to officials. The bodies were badly burned in a fire that followed the crash, they said.
Smoke and debris at the site. Pic: Reuters
Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Kedarnath, which is home to one of the four most sacred Hindu temple shrines, each summer. Many use helicopter services due to the difficult mountainous terrain.
Helicopter mishaps are not uncommon in the region, where sudden weather changes and high-altitude flying conditions can pose risks.
Earlier this month, a helicopter operating in the Kedarnath Valley made an emergency landing shortly after taking off on a highway due to a technical fault. The pilot was injured but all five passengers on board were unharmed.
In May, a helicopter crashed in Uttarkashi district, killing six people, including the pilot. One person survived.
An Irish politician who was detained in Egypt trying to cross into Gaza says the police were violent towards the group after seizing his phone.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD (MP) Paul Murphy was part of a large demonstration attempting to march to the Rafah crossing in a bid to get aid into the region.
The opposition politician said his phone and passport were confiscated on Friday before he was put on a bus to Cairo airport for deportation.
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Footage of the seconds before his phone was seized shows authorities forcibly dragging protesters away from the sit-down demonstration.
Ireland’s deputy premier said several Irish citizens who were detained have now been released. Mr Murphy confirmed he was among the released protesters, posting a photo on his Facebook page saying he was back in Cairo and “meeting shortly to decide next steps”.
In a message from Mr Murphy after he was detained, posted online by his social media team, he said: “I’m ok, but they still have my phone.
“Egyptian police say we’re going to airport but this isn’t the road we came on because there are 1000s of marchers on the streets. They’re taking us south past a lake, then west towards Cairo.
“Violence got worse after they seized my phone.
“One American woman in my group was badly kicked & beaten, and had her hijab torn off.”
Sky News has contacted Egypt’s police regarding Mr Murphy’s claims of violence towards the group.
Mr Murphy previously said other Irish citizen were among those who had been stopped from entering Gaza.
“The world has watched a horrific genocide for the past 20 months. Since March, a total attempt of starvation,” he added.
“And that this is a peaceful march to demand that it be ended and demand that western governments stop their complicity.”
Appeal to foreign affairs minister
Mr Murphy’s partner, Councillor Jess Spear, had previously appealed to Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister and deputy premier Simon Harris to make a public statement on Mr Murphy’s detention.
She expressed “relief” that the group had been released from detention.
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The deadly road to Gaza aid point
She said: “However, they still want to reach Rafah to try and get humanitarian aid into Gaza. That has been the sole purpose of being in Egypt.
“Paul has appealed to Tanaiste Simon Harris to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities to let the marchers reach Rafah. The situation of the people of Gaza worsens by the day as they suffer starvation imposed by Israel.”
Why did Israel attack Iran? Certainly, it was worried about the threat of a nuclear weapon being developed.
But it’s also becoming clearer that there was a second reason – that this is about laying the ground for regime change in Tehran.
Follow latest: Israel warns ‘Tehran will burn’ if it continues
Because, hours after his country launched its first, surprise attack, the message from Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t be clearer – Iranians, he said, should overthrow their “evil and oppressive regime”. He said Israel’s attack would “pave the way for you to achieve your freedom”.
On the one hand, he would say that, wouldn’t he? The Iranian government does not recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli state and has called for its destruction, while funding proxy groups that have attacked Israel – including Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen.
But perhaps this time there is more than just wishful thinking.
Although it’s very hard to gauge the level of opposition in Iran, it seems likely the majority of the population of 90 million are at least disenchanted with the regime.
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Netanyahu calls on Iranians to help “thwart” Tehran regime
Living standards have fallen and supplies are running short. While tens of billions of dollars have been spent on a nuclear programme, electricity is being rationed and cooking gas is running low.
Priority is being given to those who are close to the regime, notably the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian army that is fiercely loyal to the ruling regime.
The IRGC are crucial in propping up Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s 86-year-old supreme leader. Not only do they offer military power, but also domestic surveillance, intimidation and secret policing in order to stifle dissent.
So for any opposition to emerge, let alone flourish, the IRGC would need to be degraded – and that is precisely what Israel has done, targeting its senior leaders as well as bases.
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The regular army, so far, has been left alone. Israel’s gamble is that a majority of the rest of the military harbour the same dislike of the IRGC as the wider population.
It was no coincidence that Netanyahu quoted the expression “woman, life, freedom”, which was a rallying call during the 2022 protests in Iran – eventually suppressed by the IRGC.
It is very hard to believe that a coherent, public opposition movement will burst into life any time soon. Iranians are well aware their regime will respond with brutality against any attempted uprising.
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Iranian ballistic missile strikes Israel
Instead, dissidents seem to be biding their time and waiting to see if Israel continues its assaults, and whether they can sense genuine signs that the regime is starting to struggle to maintain control. If the cracks emerge, then regime change – or at least an attempt – is possible.
Possible, but not certain. “They will do anything to stay in power, and when other uprisings have happened, they’ve been successfully suppressed,” one Middle East diplomat tells me.
“And there is no unifying leader ready to step in. Even if there is regime change, it could be a military takeover rather than a popular uprising.”
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And that leaves one final question – if Khamenei did feel his grip on power was failing, might he still have the time, desire and power to resort to final, desperate military actions? The truth is, we don’t know.
At the moment, the Middle East is a region full of unanswerable, high-risk questions.
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