A column of thick smoke billows from burning tyres as an enraged community, sticks and branches in hand toyi-toyi in front of a blue line of police officers.
The people, who have been there since early in the morning, are angry.
For months, some even say for years, they have begged the government for proper houses with running water and electricity. But their local councillor, despite all the promises in the run-up to the last election, has not delivered.
Now they have taken a stance; and violence and looting are the only way they believe will get the government’s attention.
A rock is hurled at the line of policemen, and then another, followed by more. The police fire rubber bullets, dispersing the crowd in all directions. The battle for service delivery has begun and will continue until the early hours.
This scenario plays out over and over across the country, and researchers warn that it will continue as people’s anger at the government’s failure to deliver – sometimes basic services such as running water – spills over into violent protests.
Service delivery protests, particularly in parts of Gauteng and Western Cape, have been steadily increasing since the early 2000s.
According to data produced by Municipal IQ, an independent agency that collects government data, there were 402 “major” service delivery protests in South Africa between 2004 and 2011.
Since 2004, there has been a steady increase in service delivery protests, peaking in 2010 with 111 occurrences. Last year, that figure dropped to 81.
The data show that Western Cape is the epicentre of service delivery protests, accounting for 24 percent of all protests, followed by Gauteng with 22 percent. Limpopo has the fewest protests, accounting for just 1 percent.
And with the onset of winter, the number of protests are expected to increase as people’s need for electricity to keep warm forces them on to the streets, research shows.
According to a research paper written by Harvard University scholars Jelani Karamoko and Hirsh Jain, people are more likely to protest against their harsh living conditions in winter when storms and floods are likely batter their homes.
But what are the reasons behind the violent service delivery protests?
According to Vanessa Barlosky, a researcher at Democracy Governance and Service Delivery Programme at the Human Sciences Research Council, service delivery protests are indicative of people’s anger at the rising level of inequality.
People are witnessing the constitutional failures of local government.
They are resorting to protests because they are not getting the services they were promised, Barlosky says.
She says that these types of protests are the only way people believe they can be heard, as they were used effectively in the fight against apartheid.
Service delivery protests happen mainly because of a lack of strong civic organisations coupled with the attitude of local government officials who do not engage with communities, Barlosky adds.
This could be a reason why Durban has not experienced as many protests as other major metropolitan cities.
“I don’t think there are so few protests in KwaZulu-Natal because service delivery is so effective.
The difference between the Western Cape and Gauteng is because of the very high disparities between the poor and the wealthy, which exacerbates conflict and crime. Also, Durban has quite a few strong civic organisations, such as Abahlali baseMjondolo (the shack dwellers lobby) which engage with the very poor regularly,” Barlosky says.
Mary de Haas, a KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor, says service delivery protests are directly linked to ineffective councillors and the “dreadful state of local bureaucracy”.
“People resort to this type of protest because they feel they have run out of options.”
She points out that in other countries, when councilmen and politicians don’t deliver, people protest with their feet and vote them out.
“In South Africa, our history makes us different because people feel an attachment to the ANC and do not see an alternative. So instead of voting people out they would rather take to the streets in violent protest.”
De Haas believes the reason there are so few service delivery protests in the province is because of the strong cultural ties to customary laws, where local chiefs hold sway over large numbers of people.
“In some parts of KwaZulu-Natal, especially around Zululand, live some of the country’s poorest people, but you won’t find service delivery protest because there is a culture of subservience to the chiefs.”
Karamoko and Jain say that service delivery protests would not flare up as often as they did if the government engaged with poor communities who feel “alienated”.
“It can reduce the perception that there are few outlets for public participation outside of violent uprisings.
Moreover, it can reduce the perception that government officials are corrupt or somehow complicit in the withholding of services from their communities. In the end, however, solving problems of this magnitude will take time and the sustained commitment of local government officials to engage with residents.”
No comments:
Post a Comment