The recent, widespread community protests that essentially saw us cut off from the outside world by the closure of the N2 corridor into the Eastern Cape and towards Durban was inconvenient and in some instances frightening for some.
Yet it illustrated the depth and extent of the frustration being felt by citizens of many parts of the district.
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While other negative social factors were being expressed, overwhelmingly, the lack of a consistent water supply was at the forefront.
Essentially, Ugu District Municipality was at the centre of this community dissatisfaction.
Most of the protests were by rural or peri-urban communities which perhaps, understandably, chose to take their grievances into the established (in their minds advantaged) areas such as Shelly Beach.
The striking thing for me, and something that was obviously not lost on the protesters, was that their communities border older areas by only a few kilometres or less. Think Louisiana to areas of Umtentweni or Bomela to Shelly Beach.
The point I am making is that these areas are not considered deep rural, so ensuring a consistent and reliable supply should be within the capacity of the provider.
Further, the supply I refer to is, in most instances, communal standpipes.
While the frequent outages in established residential and business areas is frustrating and inconvenient, it is the exception if these outages last for longer than a day or two.
Contrast this with areas of Louisiana that have been without water for weeks on end, with little or no alternative supply provided.
It is not difficult to reach the conclusion that the resources that established communities can bring to bear through petitions, pressure from ward councillors, social media and press to pressure Ugu, inform the differences in the scale and nature of their responses to issues in less privileged communities.
If one were to accept my line of thinking, the protest action we saw, could be seen in a different light.
This is in no way a condoning of the looting and destruction of public property that accompanied some of the protests.
It was sad for me that a message I had sent to the Premier and some MECs just a week or two ago, cautioning that the situation is about to explode became a reality.
Vijay Naidoo writes in his personal capacity as CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum.
The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
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