SIPHELE NGOBESE: Rebuilding in wake of violence must start with inclusive cities

The harrowing images of a mother dropping her baby from a burning building to onlookers below is a haunting reminder of the violence and looting that erupted in mid-July in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. For days our cities and towns were in the grips of such chaos that even the SA Police Service seemed overwhelmed and unable to deal with it.

While the deployment of the SA National Defence Force quelled the destruction somewhat, its efforts came only days after the anarchy erupted and much of the damage was done. On one hand, it says a lot about the safety of our cities and the capacity of the powers-that-be to ensure all our safety. On the other, it reinforced an argument long made — that safety, and preventing crime and violence require the effort and contribution of society at large.

Since the challenges are driven in part by economic, spatial and social exclusion issues, law enforcement cannot act alone to stem the tide. In many communities it was the concerted action of concerned community members, organisers and taxi associations, forming human shields around important community assets, that showed our mettle and what we can achieve together as a nation.

By many accounts the unrest in other provinces was stopped thanks in large part to community members stepping up and proclaiming “enough is enough”. It took political leadership that is deeply rooted in communities to connect the dots and make their constituents understand the long-term effects of such violence on development.

The issue of urban safety isn’t new. Annual data reinforces the view that cities and towns account for the lion’s share of crime, especially that involving violence. The recent riots have laid bare how unsafe we actually are, especially in those areas most in need of protection: townships and informal settlements, which still have not emerged from the ravages of historical exclusion and inequality. The recent events will only compound those structural challenges, making it even more difficult to access improved livelihoods.

While about 2,000 people have been arrested for their role in the mayhem and loss of life, coming back from this will take time — most of all in terms of an economy that was already ailing, and a social fabric that was already fragile, if not in dire straits. The destruction and its effect on the innocent, many of whose lifelines were cut off for days on end, will have a lasting legacy. Tensions remain high in many communities such as Phoenix and its surrounds, where it will take much effort and deep reflection to restore trust, dignity and shared humanity.

Those living in abject poverty, the unheard and overlooked, remain seated on a tinderbox of social unrest. They are the unemployed youth, the millions who depend on the state and the millions more who fall between the cracks with no social protection whatsoever. SA will have failed dismally should we miss the opportunity to leverage this tipping point. Tragic as it may be, in many ways it’s a lifeline if we are earnest about turning the tide on exclusion and inequality, emerging from the ashes with a new social contract. 

In our efforts to #RebuildSA it is important to have a clear understanding that it shouldn’t mean simply reverting to comfortable (ab)normality. As technocrats and policymakers we must take the opportunity to bring expression and a practical sense to our government-speak, which on its own and when translated to our usual ways of doing things tends to be elitist and exclusionary.

Our actions must give life to buzzwords such as “active citizenship” and “co-creation”. We must do this by supporting the groundswell of active and engaged communities that rose up at the worst of times. We must come together as government, civil society, faith-based organisations, business, academia and other sectors to stop the violence and chart sustainable pathways to peace and shared prosperity.

Inherent in the success of these efforts is an understanding that unless we arrest rampant poverty, unemployment and destitution — not to mention rapid urbanisation that continues to see our cities swell with these challenges more aggressively than before — this violent pattern play out time again, with more dire consequences.

Safety is a constitutional right and one that was compromised for millions of South Africans. Those living in the epicentre of the unrest will surely concur that their rights were not upheld, and that chapter 12 of the National Development Plan — Building Safer Communities — has never been their reality. It remains to be seen, for example, how the violence of July will contribute to existing challenges of family disruption, spatial inequality, substance abuse and gender-based violence. We can be sure the most vulnerable in our society will bear the brunt of compounded scarcity and arrested development.

If we are truly to overcome violence and disorder we need to be bold about inclusion across our communities, particularly informal economies. Urban safety is central to achieving this, and it is recognised globally as an essential ingredient of sustainable development and inclusive growth. While we can go some way to understand the short-term intentions of opportunistic looters, it is the long-term effects that are going to hinder our already fragile recovery already hampered by pre-existing inequality and the worst health crisis the world has seen in almost a century. Covid-19 is still very much a reality, but even that ended up on the back burner as our country burned. 

While the government has identified 14 outcomes to meet various national objectives, the lack of a clear and coherent framework remains a barrier to making cities safer in SA. Such a framework requires the recognition that poverty and inequality are the drivers, and pulls together all of the different policy interventions and directs, aligns and integrates urban safety interventions, planning instruments and investments by all government spheres and sectors.

Furthermore, while many urban safety policy building blocks are in place at a national, provincial and municipal level, they are fragmented and uncoordinated. While working in partnership and co-operation with all of society is widely accepted as an ideal, our systems continue to be silos. As a result, there is no common understanding of what should be done, and the practical steps required to enable and implement integrated responses to making communities safer.

Which brings me back to the present: without putting into action what all of us in the government system know and accept — and which is acknowledged in our illustrious suite of policies that rival those of the most advanced societies in the world — we will continue to see eruptions of violence on the streets. It is a must that we get our violence and crime prevention agenda under control and therein recognise the lack of safety as one of the biggest hurdles to cities and towns driving inclusive growth.

The NDP’s goal that “by 2030, people living in SA feel safe at home, at school and at work, and they enjoy a community life free of fear, where women walk freely in the streets and children play safely outside” is a pipe dream unless we take a collective, all-of-society approach. What happened in July 2021, and which will go down in history alongside the events of Sharpeville in 1960 and Marikana more recently, is a manifestation of a society comprising too many with little to live for and even less to lose.

If ordinary citizens can turn into quasi-criminals so quickly, swept up in mob behaviour, we have a long road to walk; but walk it we must if we are to rebuild our cities and inculcate a sense of safety and hope among the most marginalised.

We cannot let these events become another case study. Let the terrible but necessary shocks to the system be the impetus to make our country and its cities and towns inclusive and peaceful, and where all share in the benefits. By all means necessary, let us resist every urge to simply dial back to (ab)normal.

• Ngobese is an SA Cities Network researcher in the inclusive cities programme.