A protester kicks a tear gas canister while demonstrating during a nationwide strike to protest against tax hikes and the Finance Bill 2024 in downtown Nairobi, on June 25, 2024. - Kenyan police fired tear gas at crowds of young protesters in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday, according to AFP reporters, as demonstrators rallied across the country against the government's proposed tax hikes. The mainly Gen-Z-led rallies, which began last week, have taken President William Ruto's government by surprise, with the Kenyan leader saying over the weekend that he was ready to speak to the protesters. (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP)
Most South Africans reading this will not give a damn about the unfolding stories of violence in Kenya – after all, don’t most of us believe the world ends at the Limpopo River? – but we should be paying close attention.
What has been happening in Nairobi and other towns and cities in Kenya is the closest that country has come to a full-scale people’s revolution.
And, perhaps because for all its faults, Kenya is still a democratic nation… President William Ruto correctly decided to call off the police and the army whose brutal response left at least 22 people dead and hundreds injured across the country.
Elsewhere in Africa, the troops would probably have carried on firing until the revolt was done, no matter the body count.
The protests took the authorities off-guard and were sparked by a government proposal to increase taxes.
What was notable was that the revolt seem to ignite spontaneously, rather than being stoked by any specific person or party. And that should worry any government, because it shows a disconnect with the people and that the people can quickly unite, and act, against you.
ALSO READ: ‘The people have spoken’: Kenya’s Ruto pulls finance bill after protest deaths
Therein lie some lessons for South Africa’s politicians.
Firstly, listen to what people are saying and if you claim to be a representative of those people, you should not be taken aback by such anger.
Secondly, you cannot squeeze people through increasing taxes if they don’t see the benefit – or watch you and your fellow fat-cat politicians living a life of luxury and ease.
Perhaps most ominous for politicians across Africa was that the revolt in Kenya was led by young people. Our young people in South Africa struggle against the highest youth unemployment rate in the world.
Angry young people who have nothing to lose.
Are you listening, up there in Union Buildings?
ALSO READ: One killed in Kenya rallies as protesters breach parliament
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