The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation has condemned violence as South Africa's currency of exchange when addressing socio-economic rights. This is in response to the incidents of violence which escalated in Tshwane this week‚ following the announcement of Thoko Didiza as the ANC's Tshwane mayoral candidate ahead of the municipal elections in August. In a statement on Wednesday‚ the centre said that when violence flares up in communities‚ the poor and marginalised are usually the ones that suffer. It called on the country's leadership to anticipate and respond to community concerns timeously and appropriately‚ instead of offering shallow condemnations of violence once the damage has been done.“The tendency of political leaders to only focus on condemning the violence and simply placing the blame on those directly responsible‚ is extremely disturbing.“The focus on only criminal and political opportunists shifts the attention away from the legitimate concerns of communities and feeds into the mounting anger and frustration.“While previously such violent protests have mainly been in direct response to service delivery failures‚ this time it is linked to the election process. Frustration about the failure of the service delivery is now impacting on the legitimacy of our system of choosing political leaders."The centre said the currency of engagement needs to go beyond violent manifestations of frustration and anger to address the root causes."We are concerned that if this currency is not changed‚ it will have dire consequences for our democracy and realisation of the rights that so many fought and died for.“Our political leadership‚ the South African Police Service (SAPS) and community leaders must take concerted action and be held accountable to ensure that frustrations do not spill into violence that hurts our communities and the most marginalised of our society."..