Fewer protests in 2016‚ but they were more violent

If it seemed like service delivery protests were much more violent last year‚ that's because they were.

Figures released by local government data and intelligence organisation MunicipalIQ on Wednesday showed that while there were fewer protests compared to 2015‚ the 137 protests last year were more violent than the average. There were 164 protests in 2015‚ which was also down from 191 the year before. 2016 had the lowest number of protests since 2011‚ which had 82.

The figures do not include protests against councillors or election candidates‚ nor demarcation issues - they were purely reflective of service delivery dissatisfaction.

• South Africans amp up violence to get politicians to act on grievancesProtest action in South Africa becomes violent nearly nine out of ten times. This is a sharp increase and a trend that has been on the rise for a dozen years already as frustrations boil over. 

"A noteworthy feature of 2016's protests were their violent nature‚" said MunicipalIQ economist Karen Heese. "Violent protests increased from representing 75% of all service delivery protests between 2004 and 2015‚ to 86% in 2016. This means that while there were ferer service delivery protests‚ those that occurred were more violent."

Gauteng had the most number of protests (28%)‚ followed by the Eastern Cape (22%) and KwaZulu-Natal (17%).

The organisation's MD Keven Allan said that the violent nature of the protests showed the need for proper community engagement.

"While 2016 showed a welcome downturn in service delivery protests‚ trends around violence - including the torching of schools - underpin the importance of [SAPS] War Room and other coordinating operations designed to address community complaints before they spiral into a destructive force. Equally‚ for municipalities and councillors there is no time for complacency - community expect delivery in the new term and there remains a profound risk that protests may resume in earnest in 2017‚" said Allan.

- TMG Digital/TimesLIVE