South Africans do not necessarily protest more than they did in the past‚ but they are protesting more violently.
Lizette Lancaster‚ manager of the crime and justice hub at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)‚ said on Tuesday that in most cases the root causes of violent protests stem from issues such as severe inequality and poverty.
Speaking at a seminar in Cape Town‚ Lancaster said that protest action was a constitutional privilege for all South Africans. However‚ the ISS aimed to establish at what point protests become violent.
Also read: Municipalities think protesters are ‘criminals’‚ but ISS says name-calling isn’t wise
“The take-away message here is that things don’t happen overnight. A protest does not just become violent; there are aspects that need consideration even before the initial protest action takes place.
“In most cases‚ people have a high expectation of response and often people that mobilise feel that there is no other way to address their grievances‚” said Lancaster.
She added that some of the key triggers that determine the escalation or de-escalation of a protest included; failed infrastructure and services‚ the media’s interest in the issues‚ police action and response‚ low level of access to resources‚ trust and distrust of official authorities‚ highly motivated individuals and official’s response to the violence‚ among others.
“All forms of protest is a voice and that voice is very important. We need to understand what people are trying to tell‚ and how we respond to that is extremely important.
“There is not a one-size-fits-all solution to all grievances. What we are trying to do is to consider all the possible scenarios and figure out an appropriate response.
“The most important finding for the ISS is that there is no one cause for the violence.”
In response to Lancaster’s address‚ Rev Courtney Sampson‚ provincial head of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)‚ said that‚ while he disagreed with very little‚ he wished to address issues of “party politics”.
“It is only right that we put our focus on the upcoming elections‚ but what I want to emphasise here is the tyranny of ‘political partyism’.
“We are becoming so party-political in our thinking that no one is thinking politically anymore‚” he said.
Sampson also said that the media and the public need to steer away from devaluing community grievances by using the term “service delivery”.
“It will be useful to move away from generalisations and we need to identity where the issues real are.
“ ‘Service delivery’ is actually one of the most patronising terms. For the reason that it doesn’t at all say how we are going to address poverty. Rather it says: ‘You remain as poor as you are and we will deliver services‚’ ” he said.
According to Lancaster‚ some of the key lessons learnt from the 2014 elections were that at least six voting stations were destroyed in the 48 hours before polls opened.
In addition‚ more protests and intimidation followed on election day and the counting days.
“The IEC is increasingly the target of election violence which undoubtedly impacts on operations and escalation into violence impacting on the IEC is often sudden and sporadic‚” she said.
— TMG Digital
Why protests turn violent
South Africans do not necessarily protest more than they did in the past‚ but they are protesting more violently.
Lizette Lancaster‚ manager of the crime and justice hub at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS)‚ said on Tuesday that in most cases the root causes of violent protests stem from issues such as severe inequality and poverty.
Speaking at a seminar in Cape Town‚ Lancaster said that protest action was a constitutional privilege for all South Africans. However‚ the ISS aimed to establish at what point protests become violent.
Also read: Municipalities think protesters are ‘criminals’‚ but ISS says name-calling isn’t wise
“The take-away message here is that things don’t happen overnight. A protest does not just become violent; there are aspects that need consideration even before the initial protest action takes place.
“In most cases‚ people have a high expectation of response and often people that mobilise feel that there is no other way to address their grievances‚” said Lancaster.
She added that some of the key triggers that determine the escalation or de-escalation of a protest included; failed infrastructure and services‚ the media’s interest in the issues‚ police action and response‚ low level of access to resources‚ trust and distrust of official authorities‚ highly motivated individuals and official’s response to the violence‚ among others.
“All forms of protest is a voice and that voice is very important. We need to understand what people are trying to tell‚ and how we respond to that is extremely important.
“There is not a one-size-fits-all solution to all grievances. What we are trying to do is to consider all the possible scenarios and figure out an appropriate response.
“The most important finding for the ISS is that there is no one cause for the violence.”
In response to Lancaster’s address‚ Rev Courtney Sampson‚ provincial head of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)‚ said that‚ while he disagreed with very little‚ he wished to address issues of “party politics”.
“It is only right that we put our focus on the upcoming elections‚ but what I want to emphasise here is the tyranny of ‘political partyism’.
“We are becoming so party-political in our thinking that no one is thinking politically anymore‚” he said.
Sampson also said that the media and the public need to steer away from devaluing community grievances by using the term “service delivery”.
“It will be useful to move away from generalisations and we need to identity where the issues real are.
“ ‘Service delivery’ is actually one of the most patronising terms. For the reason that it doesn’t at all say how we are going to address poverty. Rather it says: ‘You remain as poor as you are and we will deliver services‚’ ” he said.
According to Lancaster‚ some of the key lessons learnt from the 2014 elections were that at least six voting stations were destroyed in the 48 hours before polls opened.
In addition‚ more protests and intimidation followed on election day and the counting days.
“The IEC is increasingly the target of election violence which undoubtedly impacts on operations and escalation into violence impacting on the IEC is often sudden and sporadic‚” she said.
— TMG Digital
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