THE government has promised to take special measures to improve service delivery in cities and towns that have been ravaged by the recent protests.

THE government has promised to take special measures to improve service delivery in cities and towns that have been ravaged by the recent protests.

Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said yesterday the government was aware that protesting communities had genuine concerns about poor service delivery.

Chabane said the cabinet did not believe there was any "third force" behind the protests.

"We believe there are genuine concerns but also that there are people who might take advantage of these for their own purposes," he said.

Chabane said the national budget would be prioritised to deploy more resources to "those municipalities under stress".

"The cabinet will look at what special measures we need to take to release resources to address some of the problems afflicting our communities and reprioritise the budget," he said. - Anna Majavu