Pretoria - Bold government intervention is needed to address the service delivery protests which have broken out in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, says Dr Udesh Pillay, executive director of democracy, governance and service delivery at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
"Bold, imaginative and unambiguous leadership is what is needed, not further diagnostic analysis, nor further talk of turn-around strategies," he said.
It may be necessary for President Jacob Zuma to intervene directly, "given the tone and content of his State of the Nation Address," said Pillay.
Pillay said a key issue was whether the protests were likely to spread and what the implications of this were ahead of the municipal elections. "The violent nature of the protests and the destruction of property are also key concerns," he said.
Service delivery protests in Ermelo have been going on for the past two days, but the unrest turned violent this morning, forcing the police to intervene directly to calm the situation.
An e.tv broadcasting crew, deployed to the area to cover the violent protests at the township, was attacked by a group of young protesters, who also damaged the station's outside broadcast van.
A total of 33 protesters have been arrested.
