The peaceful protest in Tembisa which turned violent this week – when angry protesters barricaded the streets and set alight cars and buildings, leaving four people dead – was criminal, according to experts.
Democratic Alliance Gauteng provincial chair Fred Nel said the party was shocked at the violence. He said the loss of life and social infrastructure was unacceptable in a democratic society.
“Unfortunately, this peaceful protest was hijacked by well-organised elements, who stoked violence that led to the loss of precious lives and public property.”
Nel said the damaged properties can be rebuilt, but the lives lost cannot be recovered.
Policing expert Dr Johan Burger said there were many reasons for protests. “The primary reason … is dissatisfaction with the delivery of basic municipal services such as running water, electricity and toilets, especially in informal settlements. Unemployment, high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure and the lack of houses add to the growing dissatisfaction.”
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He described the service delivery protests as symptoms only of sociopolitical instability. If this situation was allowed to continue over a prolonged time, it had the potential to spread and develop into a fully fledged revolt.
“Although the police need to maintain order and enforce the law, the solution to the problem does not lie in policing but rather in speedy solutions to the socioeconomic conditions that prevail in many communities.”
He said some commentators believed the radicalisation of service delivery protests was a reaction to the absence of a meaningful response from government.
Catherine Keyworth from the Central Improvement Districts in Arcadia said when libraries and police stations were destroyed, communities lived with the consequences. She said the most unpleasant clean-up they had was after a sit-in at the Union Buildings where the protesters lived in the park for some time.
“There were busloads of people and not enough toilets, which saw people defecate under trees. The smell was unimaginable. We had to intervene and even bought toilet paper.”
Criminologist Professor Jaco Barkhuizen condemned the destruction of property, saying it was like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
“Every South African has the constitutional right to protest, not the right to destroy property. It’s pure and simple criminality,” he said.
“The price of destruction is incalculable because not only does the community lose these structures, but the money that should go towards other programmes needs to be reduced to repair what was destroyed.”
– marizkac@citizen.co.za
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