Citizens too easily resort to violence – Motlanthe

Pretoria - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is concerned that people with legitimate grievances resort too easily to violence, while democratic avenues for them to voice their frustrations appear not to be working as they should.

And he acknowledged that the police and intelligence services were failing to detect potential flashpoints in time for tensions to be defused.

Motlanthe made a scheduled appearance in the National Assembly on Wednesday to answer MPs’ questions in the wake of the Marikana shootings.

In total, 34 miners were shot and killed by the police during a strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in North West on August 16.

MPs were concerned that industrial action and so-called service delivery protests often turned violent - and that neither the police nor the intelligence services appeared to have a handle on the problem.

Motlanthe responded that the government “supports and respects the right of people to express themselves through peaceful means”.

“But at the same time, those engaging in mass demonstrations also have a duty to ensure their actions are peaceful and do not infringe on the rights of those who wish not to participate,” he said. “It is of great concern to us when violence becomes a way of life.”

Cope MP Papi Kganare said there were people “masquerading as the leaders of these protests” who were in fact “pure hooligans”.

The police and intelligence services had failed to predict or deal effectively with violent protests, Kganare said, and asked why Motlanthe could not “fire the ministers of police and intelligence”.

“Unfortunately, I am a deputy president and I serve in the cabinet on invitation,” Motlanthe responded, prompting laughter from the House.

But the deputy president agreed that some people who participated in such demonstrations were indeed hooligans.

However, there were many more who had legitimate grievances they wished to bring to the attention of the state, he said.

For that reason, Motlanthe argued, more should be done to make citizens aware of the platforms available to them.

MPs should also do more to make institutions such as constituency offices more responsive to people’s complaints, he said.

ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga has been visiting these offices to assess their effectiveness.

He has also promised to produce a comprehensive report for discussion by the party’s parliamentary caucus.

Motlanthe agreed that the intelligence services needed to gather information more timeously and ought to be “streets ahead” of the problem.

“But demonstrators ought to be persuaded to do so peacefully, in an orderly manner, without trampling on the rights of others,” he said.

Motlanthe was once again peppered with questions about what was holding up the long-awaited youth wage subsidy announced by President Jacob Zuma in February 2010, budgeted for this year and which was supposed to be implemented from April 1.

ANC alliance partner Cosatu is opposed to the scheme, fearing it will displace older workers, while the DA has welcomed the idea.

Discussions about the policy have bogged down at the National Economic Development and Labour Council, where business, labour and government representatives have so far failed to thrash out a compromise.

Motlanthe said it would be inappropriate for him to discuss the youth wage subsidy in Parliament while Nedlac was still “seized with the matter”.

However, he did say the cabinet had agreed to fast-track the issue and that three ministers had been asked to find a speedy resolution to the impasse at Nedlac.

Responding to complaints from the DA that the government was “dilly-dallying” on the wage subsidy in the face of stiff opposition from Cosatu, Motlanthe assured lawmakers that “it will happen at the conclusion of the Nedlac discussions”.

“It [the youth wage subsidy] may not be in the original form. It may be enriched, and in a more effective [form],” Motlanthe insisted, to groans from opposition MPs.

Pretoria News