JOHANNESBURG - A political stunt to highlight South Africa's housing crisis got out of hand when tens of thousands of homeless people flocked to a piece of wasteland east of Johannesburg and demanded to buy a plot each for 25 rands ($NZ7.61).
As police began turning away destitute people whohad queued for hours in the winter cold, the small Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) said it would repeat the exercise all over South Africa.
"We are frustrated that the African National Congress [ANC] government has no plan for dealing with the land crisis," said the PAC secretary general, Thami ka Plaatjie.
"We have charged 25 rands per person but part of that money is to be used in case of litigation and the rest is intended for buying water tanks because there is no sanitation on the site."
The protest by the PAC, which for many years played a leading role in the struggle against apartheid but now has only one MP, was staged on land near Johannesburg airport which belongs to the provincial government and two farmers.
After demand far outstripped theoretical availability yesterday afternoon, two ANC ministers arrived with police, and the local MP lodged fraud charges against Mr ka Plaatjie at a nearby police station.
The PAC action comes amid increasing signs that poor South Africans are becoming restive in the face of continuing poverty.
In recent days, half a million pensioners - many of them supporting entire families - have been unable to collect their monthly grants because of an administrative blunder.
