Symphony ire

New Zealand anti-apartheid activist John Minto recently flew to Capetown to lend his support to 127 families who for the past 14 months have lived in makeshift homes on Symphony Way pavement in the township of Delft having been evicted from houses they illegally occupied in the N2 Gateway Project in February last year. “Symphony Way is a microcosm of the bigger problem in South Africa,” Minto says. “We didn’t expect things to change overnight — we didn’t expect miracles. But when we were protesting during apartheid we didn’t do it to make a few black people rich. It’s a huge disappointment.” Now in his 50s, Minto is turning his ire on South Africa’s democratically elected government, claiming the poorest citizens are still living under a form of apartheid. “In South Africa the links between politicians and business are very strong, but the links between politicians and people are very weak.” writes a weekly column for The Press and is editor of the Workers’ Charter newspaper.