EDITOR – Residents in the district of Vuwani in Limpopo went on a rampage on Sunday 1 May after the Limpopo High Court did not reverse a decision by the Municipal Demarcation Board to merge Vuwani, which includes Malamulele into a new municipality.
Vuwani and Malamulele are little known areas in this vast country but now even Parliament and the President have taken notice, describing the protests as a national crisis. For President Zuma to use the word “crisis” and not “challenge” means that this serious stuff.
The tragedy is that when one school got burnt in the rampage one would have considered this as collateral damage but when 24 schools are torched by the very same parent protesters, whose children attend these schools, then one begins to wonder in astonishment whether this is the work of some “third force” or part of a hidden political agenda. The costs of damage of just the schools has been estimated at no less than R500 million.
It's insane for us to believe that any parent would be participant in such an abominable act knowing that their own children's future would be at stake. There's more here “than meets the eye”.
However, conspiracy theorists would have us believe otherwise. With the Municipal elections set for August we have witnessed similar acts of violent and destructive protests for reasons other than the Vuwani issue. Many of these protests have been about the ANC's unilateral appointment of “cadre” ward councillors against the wishes of the residents of that ward. This was in fact acknowledged by President Zuma at his launch of the ANC manifesto in Port Elizabeth recently.
Protesters have become accustomed to turning peaceful protest into violent ones to get the attention of the government. Its works like a charm.
What amazes me is that when the first school was torched why didn't the government respond, using its intelligence on the ground, and deploy the Army to step in and protect the people and property of the State. Why only now that 24 schools are burnt to the ground has this matter got the attention of the President and the Executive. This is an indictment on the government's ability to manage conflict.
Some analysts believe that this is all about electioneering – in that by incorporating Vuwani and Malamulele into a new Municipality the ANC would guarantee its power base and win the municipal elections in this new municipality.
If this is in fact true then we can all “Cry our Beloved Country” because if this is the extent that the ruling party is prepared to go to hold onto their fragile power then who knows what we can expect next.
Sicario
Durban
