What do the #FeesMustFall protests, Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump have in common? They represent disillusionment with the status quo.

The substantive issues may vary across these three contexts, but one cannot deny that there is a strong feeling of discontent among ordinary people.

This disillusionment and discontent has brought with it social instability and uncertainty that are challenging the assumed and taken-for-granted stabilising effect of democracy.

Accompanying disillusionment and discontent is the increase of vices such as racism, xenophobia, a strong sense of nationalism and insularity that are inimical to the values of democracy.

Within this context, populist, divisive rhetoric and politics has gained popularity together with the figureheads who spew it and have, particularly in Europe, catapulted extremist right-wing parties into some governments and have given them the initiative in setting the national agenda.

The primary concern that underlies the rise of populism is inequality among the citizens.

Although democracy emphasises the values of equality and justice, the form of market fundamentalist capitalism that has been imposed on the globe by the Bretton Woods consensus has only been productive of stark inequalities within and between nations.

The truth is that material inequality, if not addressed, threatens to de-legitimise democracy and its promises of freedom, equality and justice for all.

This should be of grave concern to South Africa.

Post-1994, the country has been consistently counted among the most unequal societies in the world, and has occupied the top spot quite often.

Much of the social instability that expresses itself in violent protest, which has become somewhat of a hallmark, is concerned with inequality.

The refrain from ordinary people who continue to live in squalor and are subjected to the ravages of poverty is that they have yet to enjoy the material dividends of democracy.

And if we cut away the clutter of violence, burning and destruction of property that has marred the student protests and undermined the students' cause, the underlying concern of students is that the promise of material equality in higher education has not been realised two decades into democracy.

This is the source of discontent. This is the seed of disillusionment.

Dr Philani Mthembu, acting director of the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD), aptly observed on a panel at Unisa on Tuesday that unmet expectations and unkept promises are a fertile ground for the rise of populism.

The IGD and EU event was aptly titled "The Rise of Populism: A challenge to democracy or refuge for the unheard?"

In a way, the rise of populism is both a challenge to democracy and a refuge for the unheard.

Julius Malema and his extreme and sometimes racist rhetoric resonates with many today because subsequent ANC governments have failed to meet the high expectations created by constitutional ideals and the promises made by the governing ANC have not been realised.

The constitution obliges the state to deliver certain social goods such as education, health and housing.

The ANC began a trend in 1994 of promising ordinary people the world with the promise that it would deliver a better life for all. But the "people" started asking questions when the "better life" became the preserve of the few.

So betrayed do ordinary people feel that, not only do they not trust the incumbent government but are also questioning the negotiated settlement, the value of the constitution and the virtue of representative democracy as a system of government.

As Camalita Naicker notes in her article "From Marikana to #FeesMustFall: The Praxis of Popular Politics in South Africa", the growing trend represented by the protest movements about land, housing, water, sanitation and education is that citizens are abandoning formal participatory representative structures and opting for alternative forms of participation.

They are returning to the alternate and decentralised politics of the '70s and '80s that locate themselves outside government.

But this is happening in the context of a legitimate democratic system, not an illegitimate, illegal apartheid regime.

From workers at Marikana to students at the universities and many groups in communities across the country, protest has become a refuge because they feel it's the only way they can and will be heard.

One edition of the Guardian's long read "Us v Them: the birth of populism" by John B Judis suggests that "populism is a style of politics that pits 'the people' against the establishment . and [i]ts rise is a warning that the status quo is failing ."

Mthembu warned that the danger is that the people's new-found voice and energy is being and will be exploited by populists, as is the case in Europe and the US, because there is a vacuum of leadership in this country - both in government and civil society.

Stefan Lehne, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe who spoke alongside Mthembu, warned that populism produces charismatic leaders, Big Men who cannot be contained, and who degenerate towards autocratic tendencies.

When these have captured the people's power, they present no solutions, but foment greater crisis.

The UK and US may be beyond the brink, but South Africa is better placed.

World leaders need to get more serious about addressing the genuine underlying concerns that are making societies vulnerable to populism.

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