my responce to letter from the religious community The right to Protest There are great people, amongst those who have raised their protest concern , in a letter to the Cape Times. Then there are the others who have always been comfortable with the apartheid generational disadvantages in SA. They all speak about the threat to our democracy , when a march goes wrong or people throw feaces. They seldom speak with the same power and authority about the threat to our democracy, that is posed by the huge and growing inequalities, and desperate underdevelopment. The people who protest are in the main desperate citicens , who feel that they are not being shown any regard for . not just through nice sounding words , but in actual delivery to there basic needs Protest around service delivery are no doubt a National Phenomeno, but is especially striking in the W Cape given the Governments continued focus on the wealthy , just look at the IRT Busses and the Industrial support funding, in respect of who benefits. This WC Governemnt has closed down the Institution for social dialogue, where people could have raised their issues, in favour of only talking to Bussiness, to the exclution of Civil Society and Labour in a democratic way. So how else are people to communicate there desperate needs in line with the Constitutional obligation of a participatory democracy , which consultation even if you have won the elections. The Protest that had been held and referenced in the letter, was compliant peacefull and legitimate , with more than 2000 participants . The fact that about 50 criminals had used the opportunity to loot and destroy property, is unfortunate and not a reflection of the mayority of the participants. This cant possibly be used to undermine the noble ideals and genuine concerns that people are raising . How many marches against apartheid had violent elements to it , the release of Mandela and his address at the City Hall was also plagued by violence at the back of the march. Nobody allows that to detracked from the importance of the Mandela event and the legitimacy of the people gathered . The reality is that the policing agencies must secure the safety of the marches and other citicens at marches and protest , in the event of criminal activity. The Police had failed to do this and now the behaviour of a few mavericks in the march are used as justification for curtailing peoples civil liberties, in respect of protest. A few protest anywhere does not signify ungovernability , no matter what ambitious comments are made by certain protesters, corruptions in Government and the Private sector is a greater threat to governance. But these bad practices are done by the rich elites, whose very conduct threatens the governance of SA , but the good men and woman do not show similar outrage. Don’t criminalise poor people for raising their desperate circumstances and pleas for help for the very basic needs. Let this be a sign that something must be done urgently and good men and woman must support the call for greater social justice. The wealthy and the elites will be threatened by the demands of the poor , god knows the misery of the poor is often caused by the extravagance of the wealthy and the elites. Instead of focussing on the symptoms of the legasy of Apartheid , lets focus on the reasons , with as much urgency. Tony Ehrenerich
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 12:57:55 +0000
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