Attacks not the way to protest

TODAY we report that Motherwell ANC councillor Thembile Nkosiyaphantsi’s home and office have again been torched. This is the fourth attack on his properties this year alone.

In February, his office was set alight twice and his car was trashed.

His is also one of the councillors’ offices often closed by angry residents for several months at a time, making it near impossible to give the services needed by the public.

He is not the only victim. In fact, according to the municipality, at least 18 councillors have had to be assigned security guards at their homes as death threats and attacks from community members continue to escalate.

It is no secret that service delivery in Nelson Mandela Bay is arguably at an all time low, thanks to political bickering, incompetence and a lack of strong leadership in the municipality. It is also understandable that residents are angry and frustrated.

It therefore stands to rea- son that councillors, as representatives of local government, would be the first to bear the brunt of that frustration. However, violence, hooliganism and anarchy cannot and should not be tolerated.

Regardless of the level of public frustration, attacks on democratically elected public representatives can never be justified.

Ours is a hard earned democracy which gives residents the power to choose who they want to be served by in government.

And if those leaders fail at the task, our constitution also gives citizens the right to vote them out.

We call on the police to strengthen their efforts to find the culprits and to bring them to book.

Equally, we call on communities to help police identify those responsible for these attacks.

Not only is such behaviour not acceptable, it undermines legitimate gripes that communities have about non-performance by government leaders.