Thanks to Zuma, the nation is finally united in protest

There’s nothing new about protests in South Africa, they are a daily feature in this country.

Protesting is the most used tactic in the toolbox of civic engagement in the country.

But, until the student protests at historically white universities and protests in the country’s urban centers last week, dubbed Black Friday, protest has been the language of the working class and the marginalized communities who find themselves on the periphery of the economy.

This new wave of civic activism and engagement in democratic South Africa is being spearheaded by the middle and professional classes.

This is that part of society that lives in suburbs, plies its trade in the urban and corporate centres of the country, and usually prefer the effortless tactics of tweeting and calling radio stations as opposed to mobilising on the streets.

They have realised that protesting is a legitimate expression of frustration against an unresponsive state.

For this, South Africans owe President Jacob Zuma a debt of gratitude.

Zuma has come to be the antidote to a dangerous poison in any democratic society: complacency.

Complacency entrenched arrogance in the ANC, making it believe that its hegemony would never face substantial challenge.

Complacency led opposition parties to be content with the support of particular identity groups or to flourish in their strongholds, not seeing the necessity to have a broader appeal to attract all South Africans.

Complacency beguiled the middle class and socially mobile in society into a sense of security. Their access to private schools, private hospitals, private security – made them feel insulated from the consequences of the actions of a dysfunctional state.

The frustrations that prompt the working class poor to go to the streets are not mutually exclusive from those that have now inspired the resurgence of active citizenry among the middle class.

But all of them are simply demanding for accountability from the governing elite.

For a long time now, the more affluent strata of society has felt no need to object to the destruction of the state being inflicted by the Zuma administration. They’ve finally come around. Better late than never.

But shattering the fortress of arrogance and contempt behind which Zuma and the ANC are barricaded, will require solidarity between the working and affluent classes.