So Many Questions

The violence in Tshwane raised questions about the possibility of free and fair elections. Chris Barron asked Annah Moyo-Kupeta, senior advocacy officer at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation at Wits University . . .

Could the violence have been better contained?

Yes. If the leadership had been more prepared to deal with it. If they had heeded the warning signs that we have had from the increasing levels of violence we have seen in service delivery protests.

Why were they caught unawares?

Because instead of dealing with the root causes and going behind the manifestations of the violence, they always seek to blame criminality.

Might this have been nipped in the bud a lot quicker if our intelligence services had been more effective?

Indeed. Crime intelligence should have played a role in this. But we mustn’t overlook the fact that the reason people resort to this kind of violence is that they feel unheard.

What could the government have done to contain the violence before it got out of hand?

It ought to have got the different cadres in leadership at local government level to hear the needs of the people on the ground. There is a need for communication between government and the people on the ground. That disconnect is what makes people feel excluded and marginalised.

How should the ANC have managed this crisis?

This violence took on a political dimension and the ANC is not without blame for the mayhem we saw unravelling in Tshwane. When the people exercised their right to nominate candidates, this was not taken into account. They felt a leader was imposed on them. The lack of communication between the ANC and the people played a role in the violence — communicating to them why this decision was taken and why their right to nominate candidates to lead them was ignored in a democracy like ours. The ANC needs to connect the issues at the heart of people’s daily struggles with the politics. And communicate how politics can be seen as a way of solving them. There is a need to connect the two so that this connection is made real to the ordinary man and woman in the street.

Could the ANC have managed the situation better once the violence began?

Yes. If the leaders had come out with the aim of gaining the trust of the communities instead of condemning them as criminals. This would have shown them they were willing to engage and hear what their concerns are about decisions made at a political level.

Did blaming the violence on criminal elements exacerbate the situation?

It exacerbates it because it makes people even more angry. Because what is at the root of their grievances remains unaddressed.

Are the police out of their depth?

The police alone cannot deal with the situation . . .

But it’s their job, isn’t it?

The problems we see require a multipronged approach. We need local government leaders to come out and work towards long-lasting solutions. We need their visibility. We need to see them engaging with the communities. Yes, we need the police to enforce order, but this alone is not going to be enough.

Do they have the capacity to enforce order and contain violence?

What we saw in Tshwane was police coming out and saying: “We’re out of our depth, we are unable to deal with the situation.”

Why were they out of their depth?

There was a lot of unpreparedness from the police. We cannot say they are not able to deal with this. It is in their training, and it is their duty to contain the situation.

Is their training adequate for this kind of situation?

I think it is adequate. But if we look at how organised and well orchestrated the communities are becoming in these violent protests, then we see that the police alone cannot contain the situation.

Should the army be called in?

That would exacerbate the situation. It would mean this is now a crisis and we need more than the police to contain the situation.

But as you say, the police cannot contain the situation. So do we just allow anarchy?

Calling in the army would be seen as an adversarial approach rather than one that seeks to find lasting solutions. And that would exacerbate the situation.

Can there be free and fair elections if police cannot protect the right of anti-ANC candidates to campaign, as we saw with Julius Malema in Tembisa?

We’re beginning to see that the process of going from community to community by different political parties, to campaign and garner support, is being marred. This will impact greatly on the free and fair elections we expect in our democracy.

Moeletsi Mbeki says we’re in a state of civil war. Would you agree?

Looking at the violence that is erupting in our communities and going back to four years ago and looking at the trend of violence up to now, I would say there definitely is some truth in that. We really are in a state of civil unrest in the country. We have to ask why our democracy is seemingly going backwards, where we have citizens taking up arms against the very government they elected.