South Africa has been enjoying pleasing levels of economic growth in recent years, although it witnesses extreme disparities in incomes and wealth.
Free State, an administrative region, is located in the central part of the country. It's dominated by agriculture, with maize, soya, sorghum and asparagus widely grown. Ficksburg, one of the most important towns in Free State, is known as a transit point to the Kingdom of Lesotho and for its annual cherry festival.
Despite a South African government claim that 94% of its citizens enjoyed access to safe, clean drinking water1, the actual proportion is likely to be lower on any given day, as some pipes run dry. Furthermore, the quality of water can be cause for concern.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of protest in the world2, with thousands of demonstrations reportedly taking place each year. While generally calm3, these are an opportunity for citizens to vent and draw attention to a wide variety of grievances ranging from unemployment, low wages, police brutality, evictions, government corruption and distribution or urban land and housing. Dissatisfaction with service delivery (primarily water and sanitation) is cited as one of the key factors which trigger protests across South Africa.
In early 2011, Ficksburg experienced severe water shortages. Residents of Maqheleng Township were forced to walk long distances with wheelbarrows and buckets to collect drinking water. Businesses in the town also faced similar shortages, with no prior warnings that supplies with suddenly stop.
The water shortages were triggered by a drought which hit this region4, and allegedly exacerbated by a valve system which did not have sufficient pressure to pump water from the nearby river in Meqheleng Reservoir5.
Furthermore, sanitation conditions were poor. Owing to poorly maintained infrastructure, sewage reportedly flowed across streets and into residences. This water scarcity was not a recent problem: the townsfolk of Ficksburg had been suffering from water shortages for three to four years.
On 13 April 2011, 4,000 protestors marched towards the Setsoto Municipal Council to protest this situation, including 33-year-old Andries Tatane. Andries had a history of political activity. He was formally a member of the African National Congress (ANC), and had left three years prior to join the Congress of the People (COPE). Several months before the event of 13 April 2011, he had joined the Meqheleng Concerned Citizens (MCC) and was a possible candidate for municipal elections the following month6.
At the protest, police reportedly fired water cannons at the protestors. Following an altercation with a policeman, several police officers hit Andries with batons before he was shot, allegedly with rubber bullets7, in the chest. He died at the scene twenty minutes later.
A number of investigations took place into Andries’ death, and seven police officers were charged with his murder. They were, however, found not guilty of this crime on the basis that their identities were not able to be verified, as they were wearing helmets during the event, which was recorded on video footage8.
Drought/extreme weather event, government, police, poverty, unemployment, unrest, water shortages.
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_in_South_Africa
3https://mg.co.za/article/2016-06-07-new-stats-show-that-nine-out-of-11-protests-a-day-are-peaceful/
4https://www.newframe.com/protesters-killed-vain-taps-still-run-dry/
5https://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Lessons-in-how-to-fix-Ficksburg-20150429