Protests a sign of unresponsive governance: psychologist

JOHANNESBURG - South Africans are reaching boiling point over prolonged power cuts and water shortages.

Often, these frustrations spill out onto the streets.

Psychologist Saths Cooper says when answers are not forthcoming, residents have no choice but to take to the streets.

Cooper said, "we don't have a responsive set of administrators in our country, at all levels, at the city level, at the town level, and the higher up."

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"We have people who during Covid in particular were the only ones assured of their salaries as they still are and more and more people are out of work."

"We have the highest unemployment rates in the world and lowest employment rates in the world, so go figure, how do people have to have their voices heard."

"They don't have the structures within which at a local level they can have their issues discusses, getting answers, nobody gives them answers and this is a sickening process of protest after protest after protest. It ends up with people turning to the anger that we often see protests end up with, they burn things that they should not be burning."