Rioting is not revolutionary in the democratic era, said former president Kgalema Motlanthe on Wednesday. Protesters throw rocks, “burn this and that” and then go home without having constructed anything for the future, he said at the launch of a group for activists from the 1970s.

“Rioting is a futile exercise, actually,” said Motlanthe.

That’s debatable, but service delivery protests can certainly draw attention to otherwise neglected communities, especially during an election season.

President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Alexandra on Thursday after residents held reasonably peaceful but highly politicised demonstrations over the past two weeks, demanding access to housing and improved services in the township that sits adjacent to Sandton but remains underdeveloped and overcrowded.

The ANC could slip under 50% in Gauteng in the 8 May elections and the Alexandra protests have become a symbol of blame and political opportunism between the ANC and the DA-run City of Johannesburg.

Residents are expressing real grievances while politicians want to prove who cares the most, or the least, with their eyes on polling data ahead of the vote.

The ANC controlled the City of Johannesburg until the DA-led coalition took over in August 2016, but Ramaphosa appeared shocked at the state of the township, much of which has remained dilapidated under previous ANC administrations and the new coalition government.

“We cannot live with rats and filth,” the president declared in Alexandra, where sewage runs in some of its streets.

“The filth and the dirt that I’ve seen here now is the responsibility of the local government,” he continued, speaking to a crowd at the local stadium at an ANC event.

Ramaphosa said he wouldn’t yet send in the army to help improve services, which he had done in North West. He wanted to give Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba a chance to meet national and provincial government officials to draft a plan to address the community’s concerns.

The municipality is responsible for most of the issues involved, said Ramaphosa, who claimed Mashaba was “scared” to visit and hear residents out.

“Your mayor should not be afraid of his own people,” said the president, promising housing that should have been delivered long ago.

The DA and City of Johannesburg responded on Thursday in a flurry of statements.

Ramaphosa had celebrated the leaders of the protest in Alexandra, who are from the ANC. DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi claimed it confirmed “that the scenes of anarchy in Alex, Hammanskraal and the looming anarchy in Midvaal have been coordinated and created by Luthuli House with the blessing of Ramaphosa”.

Mashaba said, “As with his predecessors, President Ramaphosa did nothing to address the real issues faced by the residents of Alexandra, but focused on making empty promises and more political rhetoric.”

DA leader Mmusi Maimane called on the national police commissioner to end the “ANC-fuelled anarchy” targeted at areas led by the DA.

Mashaba is yet to visit Alexandra during the current round of protests and has been accused by the ANC of neglecting the concerns of the city’s residents. He is due to meet the community on 15 April and maintains that the real issues have been hijacked by the ANC as an election stunt.

Municipal IQ managing director Kevin Allan recently said there had been an increase in service delivery protests in 2019.

“As was widely anticipated, protests have surged – to a new record for the first quarter. It is likely that protesters are making the most of the opportunity to draw politicians’ attention to their grievances in the run-up to elections,” said Allan, whose organisation collects data on protests.

Demonstrations were reported across the country this week in parts of Bekkersdal, Tshwane, Somerset West, Khayelitsha, Kroonstad, Vanderbijlpark and Orange Grove. Most of the affected areas have seen cycles of protests, which peak during election season.

They often follow a similar pattern. Residents complain to local officials about one or a number of concerns – often related to basic service delivery matters such as water, electricity or housing. Even if a councillor is willing to listen, little progress is made.

Residents get the attention of a city or provincial official by disrupting roads by burning tyres or throwing stones and sometimes clashing with police and targeting state infrastructure.

Such officials make promises they rarely intend to keep and engagements begin, but often falter, because no one really cares about poor communities unless they block traffic. Or they care, but actually achieving development in areas purposefully designed by apartheid planners to be marginalised is harder than it is to make promises during an election campaign.

So people protest again and the story plays on repeat.

President Cyril Ramaphosa visited voters in Alexandra on Thursday ahead of the 2019 general elections. The area has recently seen sustained protests. Photo: Greg Nicolson

Zwelinzima Vavi’s trade union federation Saftu on Thursday called for communities to intensify their demonstrations across the country.

“There can be no dispute that these protests happen on the eve of hotly contested elections where all political parties are desperate to gain more votes in a stampede to ascend into Parliament. This has nothing whatsoever to respond to the crisis and challenges facing our people, in particular, the working class,” Saftu said in a statement.

“After 25 years, not enough has been done to address the degrading poverty, unemployment, inequalities and corruption, which these demonstrations speak to directly,” it continued.

While protests occur every day across the country, they are likely to intensify during elections as long as people feel that the only way they can be heard is to take to the streets, and political parties and the media show an increased if temporary, interest.

Ramaphosa was scheduled to meet voters in a door-to-door campaign in Alexandra’s West Bank area on Thursday morning but went straight to the ANC rally after a closed meeting nearby.

“We were hoping to talk to him in person and tell him the services from the councillor are very bad,” said Rosina Mothapo, 31, after hearing the president had skipped his stop.

“It hurts. We’ve been here a very long time,” she added as elderly ANC supporters packed away chairs where they had been waiting for hours.

Compared to the bustling centre of Alex, West Bank is relatively quiet, but Mothapo said there are still many problems in the area.

The president had prioritised the group at the stadium, which appeared more closely linked to the recent protests. While they managed to get Ramaphosa’s and the media’s attention, the cycle will in all likelihood continue. DM