Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters: Public Management, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / Protests are an integral part of many social, political and economic activities in societies all over the world, and the concept of protest is an on-going subject of scholarly endeavour. The occurrence of protests in South Africa, however, highlights significant deficit in meeting the huge expectations from a formerly disadvantaged majority of the population. Furthermore, the current preponderance of protest incidents in the Eastern Cape Province, and particularly in the Mbizana Local Municipality proffered the motive for this research. The incidence of protests in the study area, in most cases, has been attributed to poor service delivery and the high expectations for improved social and economic development. While issues related to the delivery of basic services are attended to, the continued occurrence and increasing intensity of these protest incidents, has led to the argument that other factors are also at play. Using a mixed methods approach, the study employed a questionnaire survey to elicit information linked to the incidence of protests. Two hundred and eighty respondents from three selected wards in the local municipality were randomly sampled, and three municipal officials were also interviewed to explore the factors influencing protest incidents in the study area. Findings from the study point to the profusion of unresolved community complaints coupled with slow- paced provision of services, intra-party disagreements among political factions in the municipal council, and crime-related incidents; as factors responsible for protests in the local municipality. The study shows the preponderance of disagreements among political party members as a leading cause for protest incidents, unrelated to the provision of basic services. Also, the demand for justice among victims of criminal incidents was found to be another reason for the increasing number of protest events in the Mbizana Local Municipality. / M

Thesis (M. Dev. (Development & Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The manifestation of violence during the constitutionally protected protest action is highly questionable and unexpected feature of, the democratic dispensation in South Africa. Moreover, the right to protest is provided with strong restrictions to violence. Literature has publicised the reasons advanced for these fierce violent public protests dominating the democratic state and they are amid the lack of service delivery, maladministration and political squabbles. However, the geographic area of the protests questions the legitimacy of the so called service delivery protests. Notwithstanding, the recent statistics that show an upward increase in the accessibility of basic services by South Africans. Thus, this study dismisses the idea that the fierce public protests are as a result of a lack of service delivery, maladministration or political squabbles. Considering the location of the protests which is mostly in informal settlements close to metropolitan cities where some services have been provided. Whereas, the rural communities that receive very minimal, and to some extent no services have recorded very few protests linked to service delivery. Therefore, this study locates the violent public protests in the demonstration effect due to the geographical area and the advanced influence of media. The study used scholarship analysis to scrutinise the textual data gathered on the rationale underlying the violent public protests in South Africa’s globally-acclaimed democratic dispensation.

In June 1959 there were widespread riots and disturbances in the Durban African area of Cato Manor. The fundamental causes were socio-economic; arising from such factors as poor living conditions and widespread poverty. But it was the exhaustive beer-raids on illegal stills that provided a flashpoint. It was illegal for Africans to brew their own beer; instead they were obliged to purchase it from the municipal beer-halls - the money then being used for the development and administration of African facilities, (l) Amongst the inhabitants of Cato Manor and particularly amongst women who traditionally brewed the beer, this caused much dissatisfaction. However, discontent was prevented from reaching breaking -point by the police strategy of ignoring illegal brewing as long as amounts did not exceed more than k to 8 gallons, and also by only carrying out very perfunctory raids. (2) Another dimension was added to the beer-hall issue in the form of complaints by women that this was not the traditional way of doing things. They said that men should obtain beer from their women instead of frequenting the beer halls, and more importantly, by patronising the beer-halls, men were depriving their women of what little money they could have paid them. (3) In this complaint centering around the fact that an element of traditional life was being disrupted, is contained another issue of basic importance to the Natal riots in general. The policies of the government as implemented by the Durban Corporation in the case of Cato Manor meant the fragmentation of a traditional and still important social order. The economic function of the women of Cato Manor, and ass will be seen later, of most Natal women was being removed. In addition to basic deprivation it was this factor that can to a large extent be seen as the reason for the intensity and militancy of the women's attacks on the beer-halls and on Corporation property. Cato Manor was an area unique among the locations and townships of Durban. Its inhabitants had moved there in the years just after the war without any official sanction. Cato Manor was unplanned, and as a result of its spontaneous creation far less controlled and policed than any of the townships set up as a result of government planning. Because of this freedom Cato Manor was a haven for all those who were illegally in the urban areas, or whose livelihood contravened the multitude of rules and regulations governing the lives of Africans. Cato Manor's large population of shebeen queens owed its existence to this lack of control. (4) In 1958 there had been considerable discontent and unrest in Cato Manor over the attempt to implement shack-removal schemes, thereby clearing the slum and transferring much of its population to the new township of Kwa Mashu. At Kwa Mashu where rents were higher and which was also less centrally situated than Cato Manor, there was far more rigid control. Removals would have in effect meant that. Cato Manor's large illegal population, including the shebeen Queens and petty traders, would have been deprived of their livelihoods or endorsed out of the urban areas. (5) It was in this context that threats of a Typhoid epidemic in June 1959 caused the Durban Corporation to decide to radically increase and improve sanitation measures in Cato Manor, and to eliminate any conditions conducive to the breeding of flies. The refusal of the inhabitants of Cato Manor to do away with the large quantities of illegal liquor negated the health measures taken by the authorities. Finally, municipal labourers were ordered to enter Cato Manor and destroy all stills. The resentment aroused by this action caused a large group of women to march on the Booth Road Beerhall on June 17th whereupon they chased out the male customers and destroyed the beer. (6) The rioting spread rapidly to other Durban beerhalls and a large proportion of the Corporations property was destroyed. In addition, a successful beer boycott was launched. In Cato Manor violence had subsided by the beginning of July at which time it had already spread to such areas as Verulam and Umbumbulu. Six weeks after the initial rioting essential services had not yet been restored fully in Cato Manor. By the beginning of August unrest was rife in many of Natal's smaller towns as well as a large section of the rural areas.

Thesis (M.A. (Criminology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The study aimed to determine the relationship between service delivery protests and crime in the Sekhukhune District Municipality. To achieve the study a qualitative approach was adopted. Focus group discussions were held with 10 discussants in each of the municipalities within the Sekhukhune District Municipality (10 in Elias Motsoaledi Municipality, 10 in Ephraim Mogale Municipality, 10 in Greater Tubatse Municipality, 10 in Fetakgomo Municipality, and 10 in Makhuduthamaga Municipality).Thematic analysis were used to analysed data collected from 50 participants. The results revealed that lack of service delivery, corruption, poor housing and unemployment cause service delivery protests. Service delivery protests turn violent due to community frustrations and police presence escalates the violence. Sekhukhune District Municipality members participate in violent service delivery protests due hopelessness and lack of knowledge of participatory mechanisms. Road barricading, tyre burning and vandalism are the nature of criminality associated with service delivery protests. Public protests are caused by a myriad of factors; however the findings indicate that there is a gulf that exists between the public and the municipal authorities. The public voice seems not to be heard by authorities, which leads to the public engaging in public protests. Public protests come only as a last resort, after all public participation avenues have been exhausted including the failure of the authorities to respond timeously to public demands. The study was able to determine the relationship between service delivery protests and crime. Sekhukhune District Municipality need to explore ways for both the invited spaces and invented spaces of participation to co-exist. This will provide for early detection (warning signs) for the levels of frustrations and subsequent protests.

This study deploys the decolonial epistemic perspective in an attempt to unmask the spectre of xenophobia. The decolonial epistemic thinking is in turn predicated on three important concepts, namely coloniality of power, coloniality of being and coloniality of knowledge. The study is focused on understanding the dynamics of the violent May 2008 attacks that took place in Alexandra and Yeoville. It problematised the use of the term xenophobia. The term occludes rather than enlightening the complex phenomenon of violence. Such violence has consistently and systematically engulfed people living in poor predominantly black areas of residence such as Yeoville and Alexandra. The study also used empirical evidence collected from the field to support its central arguments. What has been understood as xenophobia is in actual fact, part of the manifestation and outcome of abject living conditions of the poor. This study argues that what manifests itself as xenophobia is an additional element to various forms of violence taking place in locales such as Alexandra and Yeoville, places that decolonial theorists term ‘zones of non-being,’ where violent death is a constitutive part of human existence. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

This study deploys the decolonial epistemic perspective in an attempt to unmask the spectre of xenophobia. The decolonial epistemic thinking is in turn predicated on three important concepts, namely coloniality of power, coloniality of being and coloniality of knowledge. The study is focused on understanding the dynamics of the violent May 2008 attacks that took place in Alexandra and Yeoville. It problematised the use of the term xenophobia. The term occludes rather than enlightening the complex phenomenon of violence. Such violence has consistently and systematically engulfed people living in poor predominantly black areas of residence such as Yeoville and Alexandra. The study also used empirical evidence collected from the field to support its central arguments. What has been understood as xenophobia is in actual fact, part of the manifestation and outcome of abject living conditions of the poor. This study argues that what manifests itself as xenophobia is an additional element to various forms of violence taking place in locales such as Alexandra and Yeoville, places that decolonial theorists term ‘zones of non-being,’ where violent death is a constitutive part of human existence. / Development Studies / M. A. (Development Studies)

Abstracts in English and Nyanja / Violent community protests are a common occurrence in South Africa ever since democracy. The aim of the study was to determine teachers’ views on the impact of violent community protests in a specific high school. Ineffective municipality leadership led to violent community protests which disrupted schooling activities. A qualitative design and one case study was employed in this study, and data were collected using individual interviews, observation and document analysis. Differences in ethnicity between community members and lack of service delivery were the cause of community protests. The study revealed that vandalising and burning down schools affect teachers’ ability to work. This study contributes to the body of knowledge to create safer learning environments in South African schools. Recommendations were made on how the community could work together and strengthen their relationship in protecting their schools’ assets. / U gwalaba ha vhadzulapo ho no tou vha kutshilele kwa misi fhano Africa Tshipembe u bva tshe ra wana mbofholowo. Ngudo heyi i amba nga ha toduluso ya migwalabo ino kwama vhadededzi musi vha tshikoloni. Migwalabo yone zwavhudi vhudi i kwama zwihulwanesa mbekanya mishumo ya tshikolo na uri ina masala ndo itwa asiya vhudi kha tsireledzo ya vhadededzi. Dzi tsedzuluso nga mutodisi wa dzi ngudo o nanga vha imeleli vhane vha do thusa kha unea vhutanzi nga ha thaidzo heyi. Kha vha imeleli uya nga ha dzi ngudo ho nangiwa vhatanu na muthihi. Nga u fhambana ha mirafho kha vhadzulapo, zwi sumbedza uri ndi tshinwe tsha zwiitisi kha uswa ha zwikolo zwinzhi Vuwani. U sa vha na nyandano na u sa pfana vhukati ha vha dzulapo zwi disa migwalabo ine ya thithisa vhadededzi na vhana zwikoloni. Dzi tsedzuluso dzo wana uri u fhisiwa ha zwikolo zwi shela mulenzhe ka ku shumele kwa Vha-dededzi. Ho themendeliwa uri vhadzulapo kha vha farisane, vha shume vhothe, vha vhe na vhuthihi kha u tsireledza ndaka ya tshikolo. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Socio-Education)