Throw that stone at that police van, burn tyres and barricade the streets, loot the shops, vandalize all else that belongs to the state; that’s how they will listen to us people on the ground!! Is that really the solution? Don’t know about you, but it ain’t it.
Every day we witness protests on different issues at various levels. What we do not ask ourselves is whether what we do is the right way of making the leadership listen to us or not, and if not, how to do it. I guess, given the status quo, we ought to see things in a different light.
But then, who is to blame? I point a finger at both sides of the fence. Thing is, our local councillors are not doing enough in terms of touching base with the communities they are serving on a regular basis if not at all. Most of us see them before elections and after winning elections see them during celebrations driving shiny heavy artilleries and us left out in the cold thereafter. Thus, the root cause of mass disgruntled behaviour.
On the other hand, those who are at the forefront of the protesters are too to blame in that they at most are not organized. Throwing our eyes here in our own backyard, we experienced same just recently. The leaders of the concerned communities or concerned groups need to be more informed of the aspects of collective solution finding.
If only our concerned community leaders can learn to form structures that are for the sole purpose of addressing burning issues of the community can we then get it right. Instead of botching our rights exercising, we will be able to follow procedure sans violence.
What we need is to have active Community Advisory Committees for each community to engage local leadership through. I believe each community back then used to have one here in South Africa. In case one may be wandering as to how it will work, here is where we invite those individuals with knowledge in any sphere that affect the community and have them seat on the representative panel as their mouthpiece in addressing their greviances and coming with solutions collectively with the local council. The committee can have a business person, a church leader, a public relations expert, a police officer, etc, who are from the community. None of them should be a politician in order to avoid bias attitude by some due to political allegiance.
A structure of this nature will be helpful as it will have a group of influential people who will advice the community leaders and also assist in facilitating speedy solutions to thorny issues relating to community servicing.
With a Community Advisory Committee or should I say (CAC) to shorten it, the community will benefit immensely. Remember, “mpshiri o tee, ga o lle”, (one bangel doesn’t sound) [1] and that better summing it up. Guess what!! This saying is quoted from the former Lebowa government code of arms, even though then they used it vice versa to divide us.
In conclusion: people, let us think and act in a new way that our offsprings will respect us eternally. Let’s set a good example for other countries as well. Let’s resolve our issues in a manner that is dignified, informed and commendable. In numbers, let’s act with direction to undo the regrettable aftermath of the violent protest mentality. Truth is, 'if short cuts don’t deliver good results, concentrate on finding smart cuts' [2]...dp
[1] by Unknown
[2] by KgeleLeso
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