South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday blamed the recent spate of sometimes violent protests by residents of poor communities on weaknesses in South Africa's democracy, society and government structures, according to dpa. Since June, thousands residents in over a dozen townships across three provinces have held demonstrations in demand of better basic services, such as housing and electricity, or to protest attempts to move them. The protests have been fuelled in some places by reports of corruption in government ranks. In some townships, the protests have turned violent, with protestors torching public property, looting shops and attacking migrants, with police firing rubber bullets to disperse them. Several people have been injured. In a letter to the nation on Friday, Zuma said that, although the reasons for the protests were often unique to a specific community, they all pointed to deep-rooted social and political problems in the country. The sense of disconnect between voters and their elected representatives was one problem, he said. "The ANC (ruling African National Congress) is a people's organisation, and is supposed to be with and among the people." "All branches of the organisation are expected to be engaged in the daily life of their communities, mobilising and organising people to address the challenges they face." "The protests that have taken place suggest that many ANC branches are failing in this respect," he said. Zuma also blamed the protests on the legacy of "social dislocation" caused by the apartheid system of racist white rule, which ended 15 years ago, and on capacity issues in local government, among other factors. A severe shortage of skilled workers is hampering government's ability to implement development programmes. "There are severe problems of lack of capacity, resources and skills," Zuma admitted. While some people were "justifiably upset about the pace of delivery (of basic services)", there were "no excuses" for violence, he admonished. Zuma, who campaigned in April elections as the champion of the poor, has been criticized by some analysts for not venturing into the affected townships to meet with the protestors. His spokesman told the Mail & Guardian weekly Zuma wanted to allow his ministers space to try to resolve the problems. A government task team investigating unrest in north-eastern Mpumalanga province found in a report released last week that a "lack of responsiveness to issues raised by communities" was partly to blame.
