Professor Steven Friedman of the University of Johannesburg says service delivery protests within municipalities are not literally about service delivery but are about citizens demanding to be involved in government.
Friedman was addressing delegates attending the Safety and Security Summit on Service Delivery Unrest at Badplaas today [Thursday, 18 March 2010] organized by the Mpumalanga Department of Safety, Security and Liaison.
He said that although the protests were known as demanding services, in actual fact citizens wanted involvement in the government they democratically elected.
Friedman said, since 1994 there has been no feedback from those in government about decisions they made.
He said such incidences led to frustrations and people resorted to protests in the name of wanting basic services such as water, electricity, roads and houses.
Friedman said that it was high time that those in decision making positions change their attitude and listen to the people who voted for them.
He explained that government needed to understand that people voted for them into power so that they could "bring the goodies" on their behalf, and they subsequently needed to deliver as expected.
In the process of rendering the services, citizens want to be involved in determining what services are delivered in their localities.
"Citizens become angry when they feel their lives are being interfered with without having been consulted; there is a need for good communication between those in government and the people who elected them," he said.
He added that, in general, an average citizen understands that there are sometimes constrains in delivering services, but authorities need to explain to the people.
He said the protests had been going on for the past five years and people were utilizing their right to view their opinion through the demonstrations. He warned that with local government elections around the corner, government should be aware that some people would be influencing others not to vote because of dissatisfaction about service delivery processes.
"Since we are now a democratic society, we will have to allow them to do that," said the Professor.
He said sometimes protests were promoted by political actors who had certain interests and at times the protests were genuine because people had information.
People are not asking government to go back to their desks and come out with sophisticated systems and resources, these protests will never end unless decision makers listen to the views of the people who put them into government.
"They want to be listened to because they are important, they voted and since we are in a democratic state, they want a voice in the decision making processes," he said.
He confirmed that protests did not happen spontaneously but were organized by people either in government or leaders of concerned groups.
The summit which coordinated under the theme "Together enhancing lawful and peaceful protests" was attended by among others, the South African Police Services, Justice Department, Correctional Services department, SALGA and councilors.
The main aim was to deliberate on issues that are affecting the province relating to service delivery protests and their consequences.