Protests in the townships and shack settlements where most poor people live in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town are in the news.
Poor people in South Africa often feel that the only way they can be heard is to protest. The past few days have shown that not even this gets them a hearing.The party insists that the protests have been organised by the governing African National Congress . The DA has laid a charge against the ANC with the police, claiming that it has proof of the party’s involvement.
The consensus between parts of the media and the DA presents protest in South Africa as something abnormal, which must be organised by sinister forces if it is to happen at all. At the same time as attention was fixated on protests in DA controlled areas, Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom in North West province and Steynsrus in the Free State were also gripped by protest. None of the commentaries mention these events, which happened in ANC municipalities and so couldn’t have been caused by a desire to embarrass the opposition.Horror at the fact that the protest was organised harks back to the apartheid period.
Unless there is evidence that organisers forced unwilling people to protest, harping on the fact that a protest is organised is like noting that people won’t go to an event unless someone invites them. There’s no evidence that anyone has been forced to take part in the current protests. Second and more important, in the areas where poor people live, many protests are organised by the ANC – including many which are directed at the ANC.
The term “service delivery” is deeply undemocratic. It implies that the role of citizens in a democracy is to wait while those in government who know better “deliver” to them. The democratic view is that everyone is entitled to an equal say in the decisions which affect them - including a say in how government serves them. The “service delivery” explanation reduces citizens to people who benefit or suffer from decisions over which they have no control.
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