Social unrest warning for South Africa

Protests and social unrest are escalating in parts of the country as communities continue to face days without electricity despite the absence of load shedding. 

This is due to a lack of maintenance coupled with vandalism and theft, while other communities have threatened and blocked technicians from doing their jobs in certain areas. 

In Soweto, unrest has intensified in the last two months, with residents of Chiawelo Extension 2, Old Dobsonville, Meadowlands, and Phiri-Mapetla experiencing power cuts for days or even weeks. 

These outages have severely disrupted schooling, local businesses, and daily life, with frustrated communities resorting to shutdowns and road blockades. 

Although some of these blackouts fall under Eskom’s load reduction programme designed to protect overstressed infrastructure, many residents report electricity failing to return as scheduled.

Eskom spokesperson Amanda Qithi stressed that load shedding and load reduction are not implemented together and pointed to illegal connections and meter tampering as key causes of overloading. 

Eskom has said that areas can be removed from load reduction if they address these issues and improve payment compliance. However, communities say they feel abandoned in the dark.

Despite these words from the power utility, there are signs that electricity reliability is worsening in parts of the country. 

At the start of the cold fronts that swept across Johannesburg, City Power reported over 3,000 outage calls across the metro. 

The local utility noted that the city is battling rampant theft and vandalism, which have stripped copper wiring, batteries, and solar panels from critical infrastructure.

The utility reported losses of R114 million last year due to such incidents. The situation is worsened by a R170 billion maintenance backlog stemming from decades of underinvestment.

Cape Town and Tshwane are also under pressure. Between January and May 2025, Tshwane experienced nearly 4,600 power interruptions monthly, while Cape Town spent R62 million this financial year replacing stolen and damaged infrastructure.

The crisis is compounded by community hostility. In Mayibuye, Midrand, City Power has suspended operations after its technicians were held hostage. 

Isaac Mangena, spokesperson for City Power, said violent resistance is becoming common. 

“We have seen similar patterns of sabotage and violent resistance before, including in Riverpark, Alexandra, where our teams were attacked. We are forced to prioritise staff over service delivery.” 

27 protests a day in South Africa

According to official data from the South African Police Service, there are at least 27 protests in South Africa every day. 

However, NGO Right2Protest believes the actual number is even higher, as most protest actions are formally registered.

Right2Protest engagement officer Omhle Ntshingila explained that for many communities, protest is a last resort after all other attempts at engagement have failed. 

“Communities engage before they even go to the streets. They engage their councillors, their legislatures, their mayors,” she said. 

“But when mayors and political actors whom communities have voted for do not respond, there’s no other way to deal with those issues.” 

She challenged the double standards often applied to protest, particularly when damage to infrastructure overshadows the government’s own failures to uphold basic rights. 

Ntshingila noted that there are no consequences when government actions obstruct access to basic services. 

She added that citizens in South Africa are increasingly turning to violent protests because they feel it is the only language the government understands.

“No community just wakes up and burns a tyre,” she said, explaining that South Africans, by nature, first try to engage in dialogue. 

“But when dialogue is met with police brutality [and] private security brutality, it leaves communities no choice but to use the only language in which governments and corporates know, and that is violence.” 

Ntshingila emphasised that the increase in protests is a result of systemic failure. “The government should take accountability for and urgently address the issues in our communities.” 

She pointed to the slow pace of service delivery, corruption, and a lack of meaningful response to community grievances as root causes of the unrest.