NEVA MAKGETLA: Housing and electricity at the root of burgeoning protests
Old problems have been worsened by Covid-19, and the state continues to push costs onto poor communities
The pandemic has brought escalating protests in SA. In July the Institute for Strategic Studies counted eight a day, four times the average from 2013 through to early 2020. Two causes stand out: housing and electricity. Both underscore how the state is still pushing costs onto poor communities, instead of seeking new solutions to the old problem that has been worsened by Covid-19.
In our new jargon, Cape Town is the protest epicentre. From mid-July to August 5 it saw 90 protests — more than a third of the national total, though the Western Cape holds only a 10th of SA’s population. Many arose from land invasions as informal landlords evicted people who could no longer afford rent...
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