Herewith Sunette Bridges response to the attached article published in IOL.. iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/black-white-squatters-living-in-harmony-1.1808635#.VMSrdFpQoTO Die volgende berig verskyn op die webblad van IOL rakende Munsieville en Kleinvallei... Dis n massiewe klomp leuens en word in n koerant gepubliseer as die waarheid!!! Ek het n brief vir die koerant geskyf in reaksie hierop, maar twyfel of dit ooit gepubliseer gaan word, so ek plaas dit hier op rekord. Ek het ook die kommentaar onder die berig geplaas en wag om te sien of dit goedgekeur gaan word... Sx ****************************************************************** Absolutely nothing in this article that concerns myself, Sunette Bridges, or any reference to the Kleinvallei project is truthful or accurate. It was clearly written with the sole intent to discredit me and is full of false statements. Had this “journalist” cared in the least about the truth, he could have visited Kleinvallei and met with me and the residents there, a mere 5 minutes drive away from Munsieville. Firstly, the group op almost 368 former Coronation Park residents split into many more than just 2 groups. Irene van Niekerk and her husband Hugo were never going to move to Munsieville. They moved a large group of people to a smallholding in Randfontein where they were later evicted and were forced to move to Munsieville. On this video Irene van Niekerk states clearly that she does not want to live amongst black people. https://youtube/watch?v=FJ1zxgoJLUs Irene and her husband are currently being investigated for “selling and renting out” the shacks built for the squatters by the municipality. Kleinvallei belongs to a Non-Profit charity and currently there are 82 people living there. In 8 weeks we managed to build 2 kilometers of road. We spent over R200 000 on building a camp with Army tents. This camp includes a Kitchen with gas stoves, fridges, deep freezes, running water and grocery cabinets, where 82 people are given 3 meals a day. There are ablution facilities with hot water, showers, toilets, basins and washing machines. They have Eskom power that my Organizations foots the bill for. We built a water purifying plant and purify more than 20 000 liters of water to a standard that is better than the water supplied by the municipality in the homes in Krugersdorp. This water will be used to irrigate vegetables, fruit trees and grazing. The plant cost us R193 000. We have built a dam where this water is pumped to. We finished the groundwork for the housing complex, the community centre – that will house a nursery school, clinic, central laundry, office, library, aftercare centre, tuck shop. We have spent over R 1 million rand on this project in 2 months and will start building homes in 2 weeks after finishing the slabs for these buildings. I visited Munsieville only once since the people were moved there and I did this out of concern for the people I could not help. I made a list of the things they needed and got sponsors involved to help. At that stage Irene was still living in Coronation Park. I did not speak to her or see her in Munsieville and I certainly never uttered the words that she is accusing me of. I visited Coronation Park 5 years ago. I have attached photos as proof to an e-mail I sent to the Saturday Star, which I suppose will never be published. I was distraught after my visit there and, together with a group of friends, we contacted the school most of the kids were attending and arranged to buy their uniforms, pay their school fees and pay money to the school so the kids could get lunch at school. 2 Years later, when I heard of Irene’s daughter, Irene, and her achievements in athletics, I ran a campaign to raise funds for her. We managed to raise $2000 for her. The little boy I am holding in one of the photos, Clark, died a year ago in a motorcar accident. His mother was under the influence. The little girl dancing on the stage in one of the pictures is the very same Irene, who later became the athlete. I held a party for them that day... Irene, under the care of her perfect mother, got pregnant while the rest of us were trying to help her build a future which included a scholarship to a school in the United States. I have been working in white squatter camps for 13 years. In Pretoria alone there are 75! In September last year I was contacted by a group of people asking if I could assist with a project to move some of the people to a farm, I agreed to help. By the time I got involved, the list of names of those that would move to the farm was already drawn up. I had nothing to do with that. I have never been rude to Irene van Niekerk and on one occasion, when I visited Coronation Park with foreign journalists, Irene came and apologized to me for being rude and swearing at me, saying that she was just under a lot of pressure and very concerned for their future and safety. That was the last time I spoke to her. We are working our backsides off on Kleinvallei and what we have managed to achieve in less than 2 months is nothing short of a miracle! I am sick of the drivel being published about me. I have had enough of the lies, the slander and the malicious intent of every single article written about me. If you want to write about how “wonderful” Munsieville is, please go ahead and print the rubbish and lies as truth if you feel like it, but don’t drag me into it. I have nothing to do with that place. My last attempt at trying to help there was 3 days before Christmas when the people of Kleinvallei loaded the back of a 10 ton truck with some of the donations we received, to take to Munsieville. We were blessed with more than we needed at the time, and wanted to share. The people of Kleinvallei were chased away like dogs by the Van Niekerk clan. I tried to help as best I could but I have enough on my plate. As far as the case against the SAHRC is concerned, IOL should be very worried as there is not a single online news site where more racism and hate speech is spewed than on this very blog. The next time you want to write something about me, check your facts! Call me. Come to Kleinvallei. At least TRY and stick to the truth. It’s not that hard. Regards Sunette Bridges
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 07:30:12 +0000