COSATU Supports People's Right To Protest
There are great people amongst those who have raised their concerns about protests in various letters to the Cape Times. Then there are the others who have always been comfortable with the apartheid generational disadvantages in SA. They all speak about the threat to our democracy when a march goes wrong or people throw faeces.
They seldom speak with the same power and authority about the threat posed to our democracy by the huge and growing inequalities and desperate underdevelopment. The people who protest are in the main desperate citizens who feel that they are not being shown any regard - not just through nice sounding words, but in actual delivery to their basic needs.
Protests around service delivery are no doubt a national phenomenon, but are especially striking in the W Cape, given the Government's continued focus on the wealthy. Just look at the IRT Busses and the Industrial support funding to see who benefits.
This Western Cape Government has closed down the Institution for Social Dialogue where people could have raised their issues, in favour of government only talking to business, to the exclusion of civil society and labour, in a democratic way. So, how else are people to communicate their desperate needs in line with the Constitutional obligations within a participatory democracy, without consultation, even if you have won the elections?
The protest that had been held and referenced in the letter was compliant, peaceful and legitimate, with more than 2000 participants. The fact that about 50 criminals had used the opportunity to loot and destroy property is unfortunate and not a reflection of the majority of the participants. This can't possibly be used to undermine the noble ideals and genuine concerns that people are raising. How many marches against apartheid had violent elements in them? The release of Mandela and his address at the City Hall was also plagued by violence at the back of the march. Nobody allows that to detract from the importance of the Mandela event and the legitimacy of the people gathered.
The reality is that the policing agencies must secure the safety of the marchers and other citizens at marches and protests, in the event of criminal activity. The police had failed to do this and now the behaviour of a few mavericks in the march is used as justification for curtailing people's civil liberties, in respect of protest. A few protests anywhere does not signify un-governability, no matter what ambitious comments are made by certain protesters; corruption in government and the private sector is a greater threat to governance.
But these bad practices are done by the rich elites, whose very conduct threatens the governance of SA; but the good men and women do not show similar outrage.
Don't criminalise poor people for raising their desperate circumstances and pleas for help for their very basic needs. Let this be a sign that something must be done urgently and good men and women must support the call for greater social justice. The wealthy and the elites will be threatened by the demands of the poor, who know that the misery of the poor is often caused by the extravagance of the wealthy and the elite.
Instead of focussing on the symptoms of the legacy of Apartheid, let's focus on the reasons, with as much urgency.
Statement issued by COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary, Tony Ehrenreich, November 28 2013
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