Government needs to listen to it’s people
During apartheid, the majority of our country's citizens had few rights.
Our little country has come so far in such a short period of time, but one cannot help but ask the question: Are we starting to take advantage of our freedom, or is it a simple fact that the louder you shout, the more people will hear you?
Nowadays, South Africans seem to take a peaceful protest to the extreme, and more often than not, violence is the order of the day which in many cases leads to human casualties.
Many people believe that government does not listen to peaceful protests and that if you want something to get done, violent protests are the only way.
I am a strong believer that violence is never an option, but recent service delivery protests have seen people injured, property destroyed and employees intimidated.
And this form of protest seems to get the government’s attention. These protests are covered extensively by mainstream media which puts pressure on the government to resolve the issues.
I struggle to recall the last time a peaceful protest made the front page or when protestors did not have to burn tyres and block roads to be heard.
Our friends, family and loved ones fought so that we could be free, but are we really free if we have to act destructively to be heard by the powers that be.
