I watched with interest when the residents of Havana, Cuba, took to the streets to protest against the lack of electricity following the devastation of Hurricane Ian in their country. The raging storm left a trail of destruction that included the interruption of water supply, damage to electricity infrastructure and general damage to other public infrastructure, including schools and private homes.
When residents of Havana took to the streets, they did so with great dignity and respect for existing infrastructure and public amenities. As I followed the story I quickly noticed something glaring ... there was no burning of tyres or damage to vehicles and tipping over of rubbish bins. All the residents did was to chant and express their unhappiness with their government’s delays in restoring electricity to their residential areas.
I thought there were a few lessons that could be learnt from the way the Cubans carried themselves in the midst of their many socio-economic challenges caused by the decades-old embargo that has stifled their economy.
In SA, we too have a serious challenge with service delivery protests. Almost without fail these protests degenerate into lawlessness, intimidation, violence and the destruction of public and private property. During these protests, clinics are burnt, municipality offices torched and private citizens are prevented from going about with their daily lives, including going to work.
I fully support the right of citizens to protest when they are not happy with the performance of their government but, as demonstrated by the residents of Havana, you do not have to be wealthy to have respect for the rule of law or respect for public property.
How can we as a nation put an end to this scourge of violent service delivery protests? Communities should develop their own “rules of engagement” when they embark on these protests. These rules should be clear on what the issues they are protesting about are.
They should also be clear on how the rights of others will be safeguarded during the protest, including the safety of emergency services personnel so that the public right of access to healthcare is not jeopardised during these protests. Major public roads should be free of any unlawful closures so that delivery vehicles and public transport vehicles are able to use these roads without any hindrance. They should be safe from being pelted with stones.
It is also important that during such protests children are allowed to go to school.These protests never happen on weekends and public holidays. Those who plan them always make sure they happen when people have to go to work and when children have to go to school.
For their part, local government authorities should work with communities to make sure these protests are done within the broad framework of democracy and law. This entails putting in place community engagement strategies that deal with civic awareness, participation and sustainability. Violent protests by their nature do not promote the principles of sustainability.
When children are denied the opportunity to learn due to a violent service delivery protest the sustainability of that community is put in jeopardy. When a community clinic is torched the sustainability of that community is put at risk.The same applies when a community library is destroyed. Municipalities should invest resources in developing civic education, awareness and behaviour change.
Service delivery protests are likely to be with us for some time but whether they continue to be violent depends on how the authorities plan around them. This planning should not prioritise the deployment of police to fire rubber bullets at residents. What this does is it escalates the situation and creates long-term animosity between governments and citizens.
The Cubans, like many of us in this country, are not among the wealthiest people in the world but their sense of self-respect during their version of a service delivery protest is worth emulating. Unfortunately, this change of behaviour will not come through the use of force or by some miracle. It requires a concerted effort and social compact between citizens and their government across all spheres.
• Hadebe is a behaviour-change strategist, political communication advisor and a certified life coach
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