Protests cost city millions

The City of Cape Town has spent R2.6 million over the last few weeks to repair infrastructure that has been vandalized during service delivery protests. Last week, residents of Phumlani Village, vandalized twelve traffic lights in the area, which will cost the R600,000 to replace. According to Mayoral spokesperson Solly Malatsi, this money could have been used to improve services in the areas where the traffic lights have been vandalized. He said the service delivery protests seem to be orchestrated by organizations that have political ambitions.

“Certain organizations have indicated that they will de-stabilize the Western Cape. Of course we try to engage with as many communities as possible. But in some cases those interactions are not at the level where it could be,” Malatsi told VOC’s In the Fast Lane. While Mayor Patricia De Lille is open to engaging with communities and community leaders on service delivery issues, they often find that residents are not always able to get hold of the councillor in the area.

“Sometimes you find that communities are unable to get through to their proportional representative or ward councillor and that breakdown in communication unfortunately leads to service delivery protests,” he explained. He added that at times many of the service delivery protests tend to turn violent and that violence then translates to the vandalism of public property and services.
Protest action continues

Meanwhile, angry protestors again wrecked havoc in certain areas on the Cape Flats on Monday, burning tyres, throwing bricks and petrol bombs at passers-by. By late Monday afternoon, roads remained closed to vehicles travelling in peak hour traffic, given the danger to motorists. Sapa news agency reported that 100 people protested over poor service delivery in Nyanga. Police spokesperson, Andre Traut said the group gathered on the corner of Lansdowne and Duinefontein roads just after 3am and barricaded the road with burning tyres. "The situation is monitored, and police are on the scene to maintain law and order," he said.

Golden Arrow Bus Services spokesperson, Brownen Dyke said one of the company’s buses got caught in the spreading protest action. "They stoned the bus and set it alight in Gugulethu, on the corner of Lansdowne and Nyl roads," she said. "The driver was injured. He received facial lacerations because a stone came through the window and hit him on the face. He is okay though." She could not say how much damage there was to the bus.

The City has warned motorists to avoid the following intersections due to the ongoing service delivery protests:
- Lansdowne Road and Stock Road
- Vanguard Drive and Duinefontein Road
- Vanguard Drive and Weltervreden Parkway
- Vanguard Drive at the R300

The City’s spokesperson for traffic services, Maxine Jordaan said they are advising motorists to use Old Strandfontein Road and Baden Powell Drive as alternative routes. “Road users should approach intersections where traffic signals have been vandalized as four way stops. All the City’s services assisting with the clean up and monitoring actions will stay on high alert and work together on a 24 hour basis to minimize the disruption as far as possible,” said Jordaan.

She said the City is encouraging residents to report protest related incidents by calling the 107 call centre number from a landline and 021-480 7700 from a cellphone. VOC/SAPA (Dorianne Arendse)

Ashley Kriel 25 years on: will SA youth rise up?

This article first appeared on www.surfingbehindthewall.blogspot.com and was written by Shafiq Morton

THE other day I was asked in a radio interview whether South African youth, frustrated by lack of opportunity and the politics of party privilege, would ever rise up against authority like the generations of the 1970’s and 1980’s.

It was an interesting question, asked against the background of the 25th anniversary of the killing of the iconic Cape Flats anti-apartheid activist, Ashley Kriel, in 1987 by a security policeman.

There was no easy answer, I replied. Youth is a big question. 50% of the world’s population today is under 25, and in South Africa that figure is just over 40%. South Africa was little different to other African countries, where the highest unemployment statistics were between those of 20-35-years of age.

I was asked whether this would not lead to a festering sense of malcontent amongst young South Africans?

Again I replied that there was no simple answer. A recent study by the Gordon Institute of Business Science in June this year had revealed that 74% of Grade 11 and 12 learners felt our country was a good place to have a career.

Interestingly, the same figure in the sample (over 2,000) believed that business had more power than government, but that improvements in the country would come mostly through the state. The survey revealed great optimism amongst our youth and that they understood well the dynamics of South African society.

This applied equally to the generation of Ashley Kriel, I added. In spite of apartheid’s masters doing their best to dumb down social awareness, the youth of the 70’s and 80’s had not been fooled. They had been as overwhelmingly optimistic and focused about toppling PW Botha’s government, as the class of 2012 was about getting a job.

But for young South Africans today, things such as the State of Emergency are the fireside yarns of their grandparents – a pre-digital era of black-and-white pictures, long hair and Casspirs in smoky townships.

Our youth know that apartheid was bad, but as the struggle generation I think we have to accept that history has moved on. The young political lens of the 2000’s is not quite the same as ours. An IDASA study, for example, reveals that our youth are more driven by civil society and cause awareness, than that of a party.

Young South Africans of the 2000’s still face serious social issues, but they have changed shape. Indeed, for them the struggle does continue, and they have picked up the baton: but now the struggle is against AIDS, drug addiction and crime; it continues for jobs, for education and for security.

Of course, this does not diminish in any way the memory of people like Ashley Kriel. They gave their lives at a very turbulent time in our history. And if it hadn’t been for the courage and commitment of our Ashley Kriel’s, we would not have gone to the polls in 1994.

Youth Day on June 16 quite rightly celebrates the contribution of youth to the South African struggle. What we must not forget is that Africa’s most powerful military force of the day was confronted in the 1970’s and 1980’s by unarmed young people.

It was the youth who re-energised the political movements in exile after 1976 and 1985. And one can only wonder what great things could have happened to young leaders such as Steve Biko, Ahmed Timol and Mathew Goniwe, had they not been murdered by their interrogators.

Ashley Kriel was only 20 years old when he died at the hands of Warrant Officer Benzien in Athlone. A member of the military wing of the ANC, the Umkhonto we-Sizwe, he came from a poor family. It is no doubt that this informed his aspirations, as it did so many like him.

But back to the original question about today’s youth: I commented that if South African youth were to rise up against their elders, the dissidents would most likely come from the ranks of those most affected by the burning, unresolved issues of the day.

It would certainly not be the Malema’s, street-wise but already tainted by entitlement, and nor would it be the Mazibuko’s, well-meant but marked with privilege. No, it would be the Ashley Kriel’s, the Andries Tatane’s and the forgotten poor.

Of course, no-one is touting the idea that a youth uprising is imminent in this country. But I do think if the question has been asked, we must be attentive.

Policy “wars” on abstract nouns such as “poverty”, “crime”, “education” and “joblessness” are well-intended. But intention alone without meaningful engagement doesn’t enter you into university, get you a job, find you start-up funding for your small business or buy you a house.

Possessing precocious survival talents, the young under-class of South Africa know that we have been better at collecting taxes than spending them on the poor. They know that our much-vaunted transition has been unevenly successful, and that without skills, affirmative action is meaningless.

Young South Africans – such as Ashley Kriel who left the country for military training during the struggle – might have been motivated by a burning desire for social justice, but they also realised that to contend with the apartheid system, you had to have skills.

This was something realised on the chalky soil of Robben Island. Had struggle icons such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada simply vegetated while in prison, instead of educating themselves, it is an open question whether we would have had the South Africa we have today.

The prospect of a youth revolution may not be on the horizon, but in post-apartheid South Africa it is imperative we give chance to the young – a chance based on merit and guided by wisdom, and not by political elitism.

I know that people who died for the cause, such as Ashley Kriel, would not want to have it any other way. Our adult fear of the seemingly impossible must not rob the optimistic young mind of the imminently possible.

MEC calls for investigation into looting of 'spaza' shops

**This interview was first broadcast on the Voice of the Cape during the Breakfast show**
This week the MEC for Community Safety, Dan Plato, said he will be calling for an investigation into the looting of shops in Valhalla Park. According to the MEC photographic evidence indicates that SAPS was standing by and doing nothing while the 'spaza' shops were been looted. For more on this we are now joined online by Greg Wagner the spokesperson for the MEC for Community Safety...

Cosatu writes open letter to President Jacob Zuma on gang violence

This week Cosatu in the Western Cape wrote an open letter to President Jacob Zuma about the gang violence on the Cape Flats. This follows the letter written by Premier Helen Zille to President Zuma this week asking him to deploy the army to areas like Hanover Park and Lavender Hill which has been the worst affected by gang violence...

19th HIV/AIDS Conference to be held in Washington

The 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington DC will be held from 22 to 27 July 2012. One of the topics of discussion will be: Is it possible to control the epidemic of HIV by using antiretroviral therapy? Joining us on line to tell us a bit more is Dr Alex Welte, from the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis at Stellenbosch University....

Anti-Apartheid Activist Remembered

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the death of struggle stalwart, Ashley Kriel. Kriel was killed by police in Cape Town on 9 July 1987 for his role in advocating anti-apartheid actions. During 1999, Jeffrey Benzien was granted amnesty by the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission for his part in the killing. On his release from prison in February 1990, Nelson Mandela acknowledged Ashley Kriel's sacrifice for the freedom struggle.In his memory, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and the University of the Western Cape created the annual Ashley Kriel Memorial Youth Lecture to highlight youth leadership challenges throughout the country. This week I had the privilege of speaking to Cape Town journalist, Shafiq Morton about the legacy of Ashley Kriel and the events which took place at Kriel's funeral 25 years ago...