OUR VIEW: There is anarchy in the townships
There has been anarchy in the townships around the province because the provincial leadership seems too slow to act when a potential catastrophe is threatening. It fails to read between the lines and act immediately.
I think it is too embroiled in the struggle for power in the forthcoming ANC provincial general council meeting; taking place from September 14 to 16; where a new chairperson and deputy chairperson will be elected.
It has lost the plot that people’s plights come first, as its famous motto denotes: Batho Pele.
Long before the protests unfolded last Monday, word had already spread on social media that there would be anarchy in KaNyamazane, but the leadership failed to intervene, say last Sunday, and address the matter before it got out of control. To make matters worse still, leadership, the premier, stayed away from it all on Monday and Tuesday and chose to send the mayor of Mbombela instead of tackling the bull by the horns from the very beginning.
It is a disgrace for a so-called people’s leader to emerge three days later in a police vehicle. Is she so fearful of her subjects to such an extent that she sought police protection in order to address her people?
The very police whom she preferred, also failed to control the situation in fear of the protesters. Instead, they recklessly fired rubber bullets and injured the community. In the process, they infuriated the protesters and prolonged the protest action longer than had been anticipated. This action has provoked the ire of other neighbouring townships, who now also want to address their individual issues which affect them on a daily basis.
If the premier doesn’t promptly attend to matters as a matter of urgency, then I’m afraid that she’ll be running for a considerable time, because as long as there are communities, there are problems to be dealt with on a daily basis.
My advice: return to the people and converse with them in the most informal manner as possible. If you do that, you will know first-hand what the people want and begin to serve them. Procrastination is the thief of time, my sister. Act now and fix the problem.
• On a sad note though, we mourn the passing away of Mother of Azania, Veronica Zondeni Sobukwe, who was the widow of late PAC founder, Prof Robert Sobukwe, last Wednesday. She was closely followed by Queeneth Ndaba, the Mother of Jazz, who managed Dorkay House in Eloff Street, Johannesburg on Friday. On Saturday another sad passing of the former United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. May their dear souls rest in peace.
