As detailed in the last couple of posts, the constitutional mandate for housing has erupted into really difficult politics. Similarly, the politics of service delivery, based on a right to basic services like water, sewage, energy and waste removal have ignited rioting and anger toward government. As government intends grander investments in growing residential areas, there has been a major effort to provide these basic services in the meantime. Unequal, slow in coming, and often below expectations, these services have arrived, but people still feel angry. A Special Report in The Economist on South Africa last spring ended with an article that referenced Alexis de Tocqueville's quote from On Democracy, Revolution and Society, that "generally speaking, the most perilous moment for a bad government is one when it seeks to mend its ways....Patiently endured for so long as it seemed beyond redress, a grievance comes to appear intolerable once the possibility of removing it crosses men's minds." In other words, revolution comes not when nothing is expected, but when something promised is not delivered to expectation.
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