The meaning of the word protest is slowly losing its context in our rainbow nation.

This comes after a spate of looting in the country and this time in the Northern Cape capital, Kimberley, on July 12 and 13, 2018 leading to a complete shutdown by the disgruntled residents over the alleged weird management style that stifles service delivery lead by the executive mayor Mangaliso Matika, the chief financial officer Lydia Mahlako and the municipal manager Goolam Akharwaray in charge of Sol Plaatje municipality.

Protesters ran amok and terrorised the entire city and the surroundings with a barrage of destruction in the guise of conveying their fury on why the executive mayor was dragging her feet to meet with them in venting their displeasure.

The Kimberley protesters, upon failing to meet the executive mayor to hand over their memorandum of demands, said that they were agitated by the police presence, hence the protest eventually went out of control.

Protesters are using police involvement in the interventions as a scapegoat throughout the atrocities being perpetrated in the country. This rhetoric needs further scrutiny by local authorities in granting applicants the right to protest.  

Major routes to Galeshewe, Greenpoint and Roodepan were closed and were without traffic entrances or exits into the city as boulders barricaded the roads. Protesters took charge of the entire town looting at will in each and every shop and shattered windows to access items of their choice.

While the municipality could be short-changing the residents, private businesses have nothing to do with municipal affairs. Why are the protesters targeting innocent businesses which have nothing to do with service delivery debacle ? This leaves a lot to be desired on the part of the police by allowing hooliganism to first flourish in the central business district by looters, not protesters, only to mobilise after the destruction.

The right to protest is somehow getting compromised as protesters are manipulating their constitutional right to destroy unrelated infrastructure and resources leading to the infringement of other people’s rights, in this case the business community.

Broad as is the language, looting and protesting are two diametrical activities. Municipalities need to be advised that when protest applications are submitted for approval their responsive document must embolden the word looting which is but an ulterior motive outside the scope of protest that the police would not tolerate in any way and deserves a brutal and merciless response instantaneously.

About three to four thousand protesters and looters were involved in the two-day shutdown of Kimberley. On Saturday 14 July 2018, the situation had almost normalised but with the heavy presence of the police still monitoring the situation. Further engagements took place during the course of this week to look into the challenges raised by the communities about the alleged shortfalls from the municipality.

Meanwhile about 500 community members attended the Galeshewe magistrate court on July 16, 2018 where about 193 protesters-cum-looters appeared who had been detained.