Bleaching the Coast

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Bleaching the coast (a ‘real’ estate tug of war with a sight sore)

I struggled to copy anything for last night’s screening of ‘The Uprising of Hangberg.’ I had too many questions; the media coverage on what is happening in Hout bay has been contradictory, scant and confusing. Through Facebook activists I found a few links and when I followed them I found little still.

Last night, the people of Hangberg spoke; they showed us their wounds, spoke of them and left us to see those festering below the surface. As I watch this work, I am amazed at the language used in the media when covering the events at Hangberg. News anchors speak of ‘illegal structures’, ‘drug lords’ and how cops were ‘attacked’ by the mob.  Slowly it becomes clear that people who have news media as the only source of info will end up believing that cops sprayed rubber bullets at an unruly violent crowd that started throwing stones and petrol bombs. There is no mention of the ambush at 5am in Hangberg, there is no mention of the police sniper aiming at people’s faces, blowing eyes out of their sockets.

The community of Hangberg is an eyesore, it sits on a picturesque piece of real estate right opposite million rand mansions. I can understand how embarrassing it must be for the city council to accept that after 16 years of democracy there still is a community that has no schools, health care services and that the community of Hangberg is still on the waiting list for ‘proper’ houses- a rather hairy mole when compared to the opulence of yachts dotting the coast right opposite. How can the council correct this? Lance the mole.

The ‘situation’ in Hangberg can be confused as a black and white issue, race issue but I’m starting to believe that it’s a simple money issue. A tide it seems, of those who earn lesser being lesser and ‘necessitating’ eradication, correction or abuse.

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