SOCIAL UNREST AND
SERVICE DELIVERY
T
he South African government was caught off-guard by the violent protests that engulfed KwaZuluNatal and Gauteng in July 2021, resulting in serious damage to property, loss of income, jobs and revenue. The protests initially started as dissent against the imprisonment of South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma, but quickly escalated into violence, which left over 337 people dead. SASRIA expects insurance claims for resultant damages and losses of up to R20billion. The unrest has further implications for municipal finances, planning and service delivery, particularly after the shocks already experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Affected municipalities are estimated to have lost hundreds of millions of rands in revenue as businesses were hit hard by the looting and unrest. Municipalities are now required to revise their service delivery plans to allow for repairs and rehabilitation of affected public infrastructure. In addition, enormous job losses as a result of the unrest mean that there is an increasing number of residents who cannot afford to pay for services. Statistics SA’s recently released report reveals that South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 34.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2021 from 32.6 per cent in the previous period. The outbreak of social unrest has tested the ability of the state, including the local government sector, to anticipate and respond to risk. The unrest demonstrated the need for municipalities to know their vulnerabilities in the anticipation of risks before they occur so that swift and adequate mitigation measures can be enforced. The response rate of local law enforcement was a critical factor in managing the damages caused by the unrest and prosecuting the instigators of violence.
PROTESTS LIKELY TO INCREASE Protests can be observed across the globe and signify an active citizenry, as a valid demonstration of democratic freedom. Civil and political rights, income inequality and the high cost of living, market inflation and the widening wealth gap, a sense of
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VOICE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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For municipalities, any form of social unrest threatens their ability to deliver services and the impact is far-reaching. Nomusa Ngwenya, Rachel Manxeba and Rebecca Matsie discuss how to predict and manage social unrest risk
The riots that plagued KwaZulu-Natal early this year caught government by surprise and almost collapsed the local economy in that province.
inequality and unfulfilled expectations by the government, police brutality, climate change and population movements are among the common drivers of protest. While organised protest action is expected and often welcomed as a driver of social change, it can sometimes escalate to devastating unrest and threats of violence. Recent research by Verisk Maplecroft (2020) discovered that 75 countries across the world are set to experience an increase in protests by late 2022 and for most of the coming decade. These findings are based on the Civil Unrest Index – a tool that assesses the risk of disruption to business caused by the mobilisation of societal groups in response to economic, political or social factors. The index includes a spectrum of incidents from peaceful protests to violent protests and rioting at both a country and subnational level. According to this research, the ranks of protesters marching against longstanding grievances are likely to swell with millions of newly unemployed, underpaid and underfed citizens in the most vulnerable countries. Protesters are likely to express their disgruntlement over pre-existing socioeconomic issues, rising unemployment, government shortcomings in coronavirus response and food insecurity, among others. Community protests are attributable to competition for resources, states a SALGA community protest study conducted by Steyn (2015). It identified access and quality services, land and housing, party politics, ignored grievances, community participation, youth unemployment, and the lack of co-ordination between the various spheres of government as the main issues. While South Africa has among the highest recorded levels of social protest in the world, the reasons behind this are more complex than often assumed. Existing data shows that the number of protests in South Africa has been steadily increasing. For example, there has been an almost ninefold increase in the average number of service delivery protests each year between 2004 and 2019 (Visagie et al.:2021). Municipalities need to proactively identify issues that give rise to community protests using an early warning system and improved communication between councillors and their constituencies (Steyn, 2015).
ISSUE 36
2021/09/30 11:47 AM
