Orlando residents need a hero like Mpanza
The community of Orlando East, Soweto, is missing a hero like James Sofasonke Mpanza. Back in the 1940s, when Orlando was a squalid camp with no clear future plans for it, Mpanza took the unholy apartheid bull by the horns.
Riding a white horse, the peerless Mpanza headed to the offices of the powers-that-be to demand justice for his community. His brave action led to the formalisation of Orlando as an urban township.
As we write, certain sections of Orlando East, one of Soweto’s oldest townships, have not had water to cook and cool themselves in this scorching heat. The councillor, described by the residents as Bongani, but nicknamed Kid Inaction, ducks and dives when pressed by the community.
It’s a matter for Joburg Water to fix. But with the lethargic Kid Inaction around, the authorities, as seen during Mpanza days, need to be shaken up by a people’s hero.
