Protests were reported across South Africa yesterday. While protesters turned on each other in the Western Cape Town of Grabouw, reports emerged that violent protests in Mpumalanga's town of Ogies and Heidelberg in Johannesburg, had police on high alert. In Mpumalanga its understood that residents burnt vehicles demanding that service delivery be improved. The same went for the other town's where similar incidents were reported.
Service delivery has been a touchy subject in South Africa, but has also become a problem that requires to be addressed urgently. While protests in Grabouw were mainly due to poor education facilities, the incident then turned into racial battles. Its understood that while, some felt that they needed to burn down the the “overcrowded” high school in the area, others felt that it was their children's right to get the education that so many of them were not afforded in the Apartheid era.
Moving across South Africa's landscape the protests reported in Johannesburg yesterday, resembled that of the one in Grabouw, however, the racial tone was not present. The protests in Jo'burg were sparked once again by the same underlying topic, service delivery. Its understood that residents there looted the homes of ward councilors who they have accused councilors of selfishly addressing their own needs. While the protest in Mpumalanga was the result of residents not being employed by the local colliery. Well as the country finds its democratic feet, and politicians finally address the problem of in fighting within their political groups, maybe one day some day this problem could just be addressed. Funny how all these protests come a day before Human Rights day.
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