Cape Argus (Cape Town)

66 cops injured in illegal service delivery protests

October 13, 2005

There were 881 illegal protests in South Africa in the past year in which 66
police service members – 21 of them in the Free State – were injured.

In a reply to a parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance, Safety
and Security Minister Charles Nqakula added that the majority of illegal
protests, nearly 223, occurred in Gauteng, followed by the Eastern Cape
(153) and KwaZulu-Natal (132). There were 51 such protests in the Western
Cape.

The statistics relate to the 2004/2005 financial year, during which period
there were 5 085 legal public protests.

DA MP Roy Jankielsohn said in a statement yesterday: “While it is normal in
a healthy democracy for citizens to protest, the high number of protests
combined with a large number of illegal protests indicates that all is not
well with the state of the ANC’s governance of South Africa.

“The number of illegal protests in particular points to the fact that
communities are rising up in spontaneous displays of anger over the slow
rate of service delivery and to display their dissatisfaction with the
terrible mismanagement of many ANC-run municipalities.

“The people of South Africa should not have to pay the price of the ANC’s
inability to govern effectively.

“The only way to remedy the situation is for the ANC to get its house in
order.” – Political Bureau