EDITORIAL | Emalahleni deaths should spark a movement to fix SA’s many dysfunctions

Not two weeks ago, Philasande Yende was one of South Africa's potential future leaders. The 13-year-old, as deputy headboy of Robert Carruthers Primary School, was also a keen sportsman and member of the first rugby and soccer teams. For his family, his achievements were a source of pride, an indication of what he could one day become. Their dreams now lie shattered in the streets of Emalahleni, where their beloved boy was caught in the crossfire during service delivery protests on Wednesday. The teenager was shot in the head and died in hospital.

It took authorities several days to confirm his death, with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) on Monday saying its officials have not been able to visit the site because of ongoing tensions in the community. Police spokesperson Col Donald Mdhluli said: “It is alleged that one of the minors was shot at a scene where police were deployed.” He added Ipid was “probing the allegations in a quest to find out whether police were involved in the shooting”. 

Another two people, including another yet to be identified minor and Sipho Mnguni, 42, were killed in the days-long protests along the N4, where the community’s anger boiled over after days of no electricity and no water. Schools were disrupted, roads were blocked and workers were prevented from leaving the area. A truck was torched, and several motorists reported their vehicles were stoned. The police hinted at the possibility that Mnguni and the other child were killed by angry motorists who wanted to force their way through the blocked roads. 

Yende and Mnguni and the unidentified third person were all victims of our broken society. They were failed on many levels. They may have been killed by police or angry motorists — but they were also killed by load-shedding, water disruptions and incompetent public servants.

The mayor was pelted with stones when visiting the area by an unforgiving and fed-up community. While Ipid told TimesLIVE cops “are not allowed to use live ammunition in protests”, this statement makes one question whether any progress has been made with police training on crowd management since the Marikana massacre in 2012, which prompted an investigation into the issue and recommendations about how to improve crowd control. More than 10 years later, it should no longer be necessary for the directorate to state the glaringly obvious.

The three deaths have not received much media attention. In a normal society the death of a 13-year-old boy, allegedly at the hands of police, would be front page news. Not so in South Africa, where they have just become three more casualties in another service delivery protest.

What transpired in Emalahleni symbolises everything that is wrong in our country; from badly trained law enforcement officials to endless power cuts and disrupted schooling. All culminating in justified anger from frustrated members of the community trying to eke out a living in our weak economy.

The South African Police Service attended about 2,455 protests between July and September last year, an indication of how common such protests have become. Data collected by Municipal IQ shows the trend is on the rise, another symptom of a growing movement of discontent.

Yende will be laid to rest in Emalahleni on Tuesday, where the community has come together to support his grieving family. All we can hope for is that his and the other deaths will not be in vain. May the powers-that-be take a long look at the picture of the smiling face of the young and hardworking boy and pause for a moment to reflect on how their own crookedness and incompetence have let South Africans down — and hopefully spur into action a movement that can start fixing our many broken systems.