An official in the Department of Planning‚ Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency has warned that the societal discontent South Africa is experiencing will get worse as the country approaches the local government elections.

Dr Thabo Mabogoane told the South African Human Rights Commission hearing on the impact that community service delivery protests have on education that none of these upheavals had anything to do with schools.

“The society discontent that we are experiencing has been increasing and it is getting worse with the elections that are coming. We are going to see more of this happening.”

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He said the challenge was that since the community unhappiness had nothing to do with education‚ it was difficult to predict if schools would be targeted

“It is a hard one and I am hoping that we are not suggesting that we want a police state where we have agents everywhere in every meeting being there to monitor what people are discussing because then we will be going on a slippery slope.”

He said the sad reality was that protests were not about education but schools were targeted.

“When people protest the first thing that they want to use as a symbol that we are angry is a school‚ because schools are vulnerable. “

He said the government had learnt lessons from the wave of protests engulfing the country.

“All that we are able to see is that the people are feeling that government is not responding much quicker as they would like to the challenges.”