When violence is seen as the only outlet

The violence is all around us, rumbling ominously like a threatening volcano, which has already erupted in pockets across the country.

In Cape Town, where an armed gang war is being fought over drugs, taxi routes and protection money extorted from clubs, there are any number of no-go areas law abiding citizens avoid like the plague.

This is a savage scenario born of the pervading poverty on the Cape Flats, to where the apartheid regime relegated a disenfranchised coloured population. But gangsterism is just one side of it. The communities have had enough of the promises of the ruling party and are taking to the streets.

In the North West province, the flyspeck town of Coligny has exploded into a frenzy of house burnings and racial confrontation over the death of a teenager and two suspects being awarded bail.

In Limpopo, the equally insignificant settlement of Vuwani is seething over a decision by the Municipal Demarcation Board to relocate them from the Makhado to the Vhembe district municipality.

Last year, 30 schools were either burnt or vandalised when residents embarked on a protracted protest over the issue.

This week, the embers took flame when President Jacob Zuma reneged on personally addressing their concerns for “security reasons”.

In Eldorado Park, the unrest has spread to neighbouring Nancefield, Ennerdale and Orange Farm where angry residents are blocking roads and the acrid smoke and the reek of burning tyres blots out the sky.

Along with this has come the inevitable looting and the inevitable barrage of police tear gas and rubber bullets in what is increasingly becoming an unpoliceable situation. Their grievances centre on land to build houses.

The protesters are not unaware of the extravagances of politicians or unaware of the costs of Nkandla. The thread that binds these incidents is anger … and violence is seen as their only outlet.