‘Many shades of the truth’ – The Ramaphosa case study

Nobayethi Dube


Part I: Executive Summary

1. Ramaphosa is a township situated in the East Rand under Ekurhuleni municipality. The township is part of Ward 42. In May 2008, Ramaphosa experienced violence which has been described as quite intense by some analysts as well as newspapers. A number of people lost their dwellings, were displaced and some were killed. There are a number of complex findings in the research particularly when it comes to what led to the violence – simply put – everyone has their own version of what happened. The research also shows that the community of Ramaphosa is uncertain about whether the violence will take place and feels alone.

2. The research found that the churches, community based organisations and ordinary citizens particularly from Reiger Park provided assistance. The churches from Reiger Park were the most organised. On 17 May 2008 they became aware that a number of displaced foreign nationals had taken refuge at the Reiger Park police station. An sms was sent out by one of the church leaders informing them of what was happening. A task team was set up to look at the different areas such as feeding the displaced, medical attention counselling and so on. The task team went as far as assisting those that wanted to go back to their countries.