Durban, July 26: Government is paying “serious attention” to the service delivery protests, President Jacob Zuma said in Durban on Saturday.
“We are sympathetic to the concerns of people who have genuine grievances; for we know what it is like to live in conditions of squalor without water, basic sanitation or electricity,” he said in a speech to the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The country has been rocked in recent weeks by service delivery protests, some of which have turned violent, particularly against foreigners.
Zuma said it was part of democracy that people had the right to take to the streets in protest if they were unhappy.
Violence
“However, they lose our support if the protests are accompanied by violence.”
He said police had been instructed to respond with “sensitivity” to law-abiding protesting.
However they had been told to take “swift action” against those that broke the law.
Zuma said he intended to have “intensive interaction” with local government officials.
This was in order to hear “first hand” what problems they faced.
“It is tempting to shout at colleagues in local government and say they are not doing their work. But we need to go deeper than that and check what kind of support government provides provincially and nationally to local government, especially in the very rural municipalities with no resources.”
—Agencis