JOINING HANDS TO
REBUILD COMMUNITIES While still counting the cost of July’s looting on the economy, there are more than glimmers of hope where communities, local government and nongovernmental organisations have banded together to help restore order. By Trevor Crighton
RebuildSA volunteers rallied to clean up Diepkloof Square within a few hours after the looting finished.
T
he Gift of the Givers Foundation sums up the context of July’s looting, centred in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, succinctly: “To fulfil their selfish, egoistic, political, selfcentred agenda they instigated public disorder of a most despicable nature, eroding race relationships, glorifying looting, destroying livelihoods, putting at peril the jobs of thousands of our people, attacking ambulances, clinics, pharmaceutical manufacturing and wholesale companies, pharmacies and medical practices, denying passage of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers to medical facilities, resulting in hunger, lack of oxygen and total patient care, and possible numerous deaths … Ordinary civilians of all economic strata have been denied access to basic foods and
“Social activism and civic responsibility triumphed where our citizens banded together to protect, defend and unify our communities that our government and leadership has failed spectacularly.” – Gift of the Givers
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VOICE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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medical supplies. Severely ill COVID-19 patients have been prevented access to medical facilities by these traitors who have the blood of our people on their hands”. Their takeaway, though, is that South Africa is resilient and ubuntu and ethics regularly triumph over evil, injustice and immorality. “Social activism and civic responsibility triumphed where our citizens banded together to protect, defend and unify our communities that our government and leadership has failed spectacularly … Instead of tearing us apart, the traitors united us more strongly than before”.
SERVICE DELIVERY PROTEST ESCALATED INTO UNREST Sabelo Gwala, director of operations for SALGA in KwaZulu-Natal, explains that the unrest started in the last week of June as a service delivery protest in Mooi Mpofana Local Municipality, where communities were protesting a lack of service delivery and a high youth unemployment rate. “This saw a blockage on the N3 and burning of trucks. What was meant to be peaceful protesting degenerated into chaos and exploded in various parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.”
ISSUE 36
2021/09/30 11:39 AM
