Politicians just want to score points

SOUTH Africa was wrecked by service delivery protests this week.

Yesterday, in Johannesburg alone, there were no fewer than six, following the much storeyed Alex protest earlier in the week.

Pretoria and Cape Town have had their fair share.

The opposition DA, which governs these metros, claims that the protests have been orchestrated by the ANC in a bid to destabilise the areas ahead of May 8, while the police ministry has announced that criminals are hijacking legitimate political protests – which may or may not inadvertently bolster the DA’s claims.

What is incontrovertible is the lack of leadership in responding to the crisis.

President Cyril Ramaphosa went to Alex on Thursday and, as has become his trademark, expressed how appalled he was by the conditions he found – a step up from the “shock” he received at being informed of the true state of Eskom.

He used the opportunity to politick against mayor Herman Mashaba for being too scared to meet the protesters – and then promised to build a million houses in the next five years.

If they start on Monday, that will be 547 a day until just before the next general election.

It makes for great sound bites on air – and even better headlines, but in truth, it is as bereft of real consequence as the ANC’s management of the Alex crisis which has existed, and became progressively worse since 1994, not just the last two and a half years that Mashaba has been mayor.

There’s no excuse though for Mashaba not to be on the ground or for his counterpart in Pretoria or Cape Town.

Our politicians are playing a very dangerous game here, trying to score political points ahead of the all-important elections, by blaming everyone else – rather than showing real leadership by taking responsibility.

Winning the elections counts for little if all that’s left are the burning embers of towns and cities.