Are these protests just?
The validity of the protest becomes lost in translation when the only language used is violence.
A police Nyala drives down a blockaded road in Kliptown, Johannesburg. Residents of Kliptown began a protest this morning. Residents protested over poor service delivery, blockading roads and railway lines. 2 May 2017. Picture: Yeshiel Panchia
I’m all for the voicing of opinions. We shouldn’t be forced to live under circumstances that do not build us as a people. But I seriously feel we’ve lost the plot in some of these protests.
Residents of Kliptown, Soweto, decided a few weeks ago that they were unhappy that they were part of the rest of the country experiencing a backlog in the delivery of RDP housing, so they protested and held an entire street of the township to ransom.
How do you reason burning tyres on a street that serves your very community, burning a clinic that you rush your children to in the wee hours of the morning or pelting a school bus full of primary school children with stones just because your child is not on that bus?
The validity of the protest becomes lost in translation when the only language used is violence. We sit back and no longer judge the cause, only the nonsensical actions.
Where do people find the time to give up their everyday activities and exchange them for violent and irrational burning of facilities, among other things?
Any protest can be less effective, based on how the complainants act in the eyes of the public, government and the police force.
Some people have legitimate claims to these houses, but why are young people whose parents have houses demand the very same RDP housing?
Why are they not first working, having the drive to get a bond to buy a house, or even renting? Why such dependency on the state?
What happened to ambition?
Realistically, how can the state provide for a 60-year-old grandmother and her 12 grandchildren and also provide for a 20-year-old to have a free house?
There’s an expectation for government to provide for many generations on a limited budget, even the so-called born frees.
Let’s be frank, the RDP housing initiative by government is one we have to show appreciation for.
How many governments provide free housing in Africa?
There is no denying that the housing department and the allocation of houses is riddled with corruption, but expectations should be managed to a reasonable level.
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