Emjindini is gradually degenerating into a slum. 
Following the approval of extension 13 and 14, areas that have no water tap on stands, no sanitations and no proper roads, the township is not much different from a rural area, say residents. 
They are forced to walk a long distance to fetch water or to catch taxis. Long queues form at taps for water. To answer to a call of nature they have to use a pit toilet or use the open land. 
To make matters worse, some residents of extension 13 are forced to occupy their stands even though there were no basic services. 
The council has recently put out a 21-day notice, which came to effect on August 17, forcing all recipients allocated stands to occupy them. 
Failing to do so, the allocation would be revoked and allocated to the next qualifying beneficiary registered on the council’s waiting list, without any further notice. 
However, some residents are up in arms and refuse to occupy their stands until infrastructure has been installed. 
Those who spoke to Barberton Times said, although they want to have their own plots, they wouldn’t occupy them because services were still not installed. 
Joshua Mashaba said he was born and bred at Phumula where they had toilets and running water available. Now he was forced to fetch water and use pit toilets. Another elderly woman, Nomsa Likhuleni, who was found clearing long grass in her stand, said that the council could at least have put in the basic infrastructure before forcing them to move there. 
She referred to extension nine and 10, phase two, where RDP houses were erected and all basic services provided before the people moved in. 
“Why didn’t the council use the same criteria?” she asked.
Another section experiencing a similar crisis is extension 11. This area was established in 1998 but still has no basic infrastructures. 
Residents complained about the lack of services and threaten to not vote in the upcoming local government elections. 
An irate Nonhlanhla Shongwe (18) said she didn’t even go to register to vote because she hadn’t seen any development in the area since she moved there in 1999. 
“There are no proper streets and to get water we have to walk a long distance,’ she said. 
Residents of extension 13 claim that the people who are forcing them to occupy their stands are living in town and others in well-maintained sections where they experience no difficulties. 
At the time of going to press the council had not responded to questions put to it. They were submitted to the municipal manager’s office desk on September 8 and she promised to respond within seven days. But, however, she has failed to date, to do so.

A 14-year-old schoolboy was killed instantly when he was hit by a car near the Emjindini taxi rank on Monday afternoon. Mbongeni Blessing Nkosi of 13 White City, New Village and two friends were sitting under a tree next to the road, when the driver of a Toyota Tazz lost control of her vehicle. They were waiting for his mother to return from Nelspruit. 

The circumstances of the tragic accident are still unclear. It is believed the motorist was ill or had an epileptic seizure before she lost control of her vehicle. It is alleged that she first collided with a bakkie before she sped on towards the children, hitting Mbongeni. The car came to a standstill after hitting a corrugated wall, 10 metres away. The other two children ran away when the car struck their friend. 

His mother, Siwe Shongwe was suffering from shock. Mbongeni was her only child. The unemployed Siwe lives with her parents. Mbongeni was a grade nine pupil at Ngwane Primary School. 

According to his mother he was a bright student who loved to play soccer at school. A family friend, Ntombise Mokwane told Barberton Times that he was a quiet child and was loved by all. The funeral arrangements have not been finalized. The motorist was admitted to Barberton Provincial Hospital. According to the police a case of culpable homicide has been opened.

Once again people lined up at various different venues to do their bit for CANSA. Colourful and bald heads were found all over Barberton during the weekend’s Shavathon. 

At Central Perk Patrick van der Westhuizen decided to go all out and the dye his hair different colours. 

Not only did he give his donations to CANSA but walked around in Barberton collecting money that was paid over to CANSA on Tuesday. 

With him are dawn Gelderblom and Cecilia Andersen of Central Perk. Photo: Lynette Louw