Foreign media reports portraying South Africa as a country ”seized with unrest” because of the past fortnight’s service delivery protests were unfounded, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.
”This clearly is not the case,” he wrote in his weekly newsletter.
”We should not claim these events to be more than they are. At the same time, it would be unwise to dismiss them because they do raise important issues and they do pose particular challenges for the count.”
Zuma denounced violence, looting and intimidation that often accompanied the protests, but said the government’s response to it must be more than a reminder to respect the law.
”If people want to exercise their democratic rights, they must be prepared to respect the democratic rights of others … Where the law is broken, perpetrators must be brought to book.
”As the African National Congress, however, we cannot hope to adequately respond to these events by simply calling for the law to be upheld. We need to look at the circumstances that gave rise to these protests, and work to address them.”
Zuma said the protests were partly to blame on local councillors who failed to do their jobs.
If the reasons for the discontent varied from place to place, they all pointed to problems in South African society, in government and in the way the ANC functions at local level.
”It suggests that we have not done enough to ensure that all South Africans accept and internalise the values and principles that underpin our Constitution. It also means that we have not done enough to repair the social dislocation and destruction of family life caused by the apartheid system.
”These protests also highlight weaknesses in government institutions. There is no doubt that residents in some of these areas have genuine grievances. There may indeed be corruption and incompetence in the structures that are supposed to manage their areas.”
He said in local government there were ”severe problems of lack of capacity, resources and skills. But the other spheres of government — provincial and national — should not be let off the hook. They too must accept responsibility for the shortcomings.”
Matters were made worse by a lack of communication between public representatives and communities.
”It is also clear that residents in many areas are frustrated by the lack of information coming forth from their elected representatives, and have a strong sense that their representatives are not listening to them.”
Zuma said it was imperative that officials from all parties become more visible in their constituencies and promised the ANC would urgently undertake ”an audit” of all its councillors.
”This should be seen not as a way to punish councillors, but to identify problems and take corrective action to ensure that councillors work more effectively to improve the lives of our people.
”These protests also highlight weaknesses within the ANC structures and the broader democratic movement. The ANC is a people’s organisation, and is supposed to be with and among the people.
”The protests that have taken place suggest that many ANC branches are failing in this respect. This is an organisational weakness that needs to be addressed.” — Sapa