Bekkersdal protests: where there is smoke, there is fire
When people pay for their rates and taxes and the municipality does not deliver, they clearly are left with no other option but to take to the streets.
• Cope West Rand region organiser Nicodemus Phake writes:
With reference to the letter published in the Herald on 28 March written by ANCYL branch coordinator Kanyiso Gwarubana from Westonaria and titled, Let’s end these service delivery protests, I want to put it on record that people don’t just wake up in the morning and decide to strike without valid reasons.
Gwarubana must know that where there is smoke, there is fire.
The reason why people are seen taking to the streets is because they simply are fed up with the poor service delivery or the lack thereof.
People are seen paying their rates and taxes and they often receive little if nothing in return. That is where the problem lies.
Famous scientist Isaac Newton once said that “For every action force, there is an equal reaction force” and that is what is happening in Bekkersdal.
When people pay for their rates and taxes and the municipality does not deliver, they clearly are left with no other option but to take to the streets.
We sometimes hear of workers engaging in labour protests and that is because they render their labour to their employers and are not remunerated fairly at the end of the day.
Colossians Chapter 4 verse 1 states that ” Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair because you know that you also have a master in heaven.”
The late father of the nation Nelson Mandela once said, “If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC government what you did to the apartheid government”.
Congress of the People (Cope) always will be in support of service delivery protests because we understand the people’s plight.
That is why Cope president Terror Lekota visited Bekkersdal last year to pledge solidarity with the people of the area.
