{"id":4044,"date":"2026-07-02T12:13:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/?p=4044"},"modified":"2026-07-02T12:15:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:15:39","slug":"basic-services-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/basic-services-failures\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic services failures: Flaring up protests"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4044\" class=\"elementor elementor-4044\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-b1cc767 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b1cc767\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-afe7e3b\" data-id=\"afe7e3b\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-16dd064 elementor-align-right elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"16dd064\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/product\/basic-services-failures-flaring-up-protests\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">buy this article<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-f3405d4 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"f3405d4\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7c0102da\" data-id=\"7c0102da\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-402d209d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"402d209d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>By Kotie Geldenhuys<\/strong><br \/><strong>Photos courtesy of Ihsaan Haffejee\/GroundUp and Ashraf Hendricks\/GroundUp<\/strong><\/p><p>With local government elections scheduled for November 2026, the familiar promise of improved &#8220;service delivery&#8221; has returned to the campaign trail. Political party candidates vow to ensure access to water, sanitation, electricity and other basic services to struggling communities, pledges that many voters have heard countless times before. Yet, for many South Africans, these promises remain unfulfilled. Frustration is constantly spilling onto the streets as communities resort to protest action to have their voices heard. And they are not alone. Across the country, students and workers are also mobilising, demanding access to basic rights, fair treatment and accountability from those in power.<\/p><p>South Africa is widely regarded as one of the most protest-active countries in the world, with more than two million people taking to the streets annually. This deeply entrenched &#8220;protest culture&#8221; has led some analysts to describe the country as the protest capital of the world. However, protest as a form of political expression is not new to South Africa.<\/p><p>******************************<\/p><p>[This is only an extract of an article published in Servamus: July 2026. This article is available for <a href=\"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/product\/basic-services-failures-flaring-up-protests\/\">purchase<\/a>.]<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>buy this article By Kotie GeldenhuysPhotos courtesy of Ihsaan Haffejee\/GroundUp and Ashraf Hendricks\/GroundUp With local government elections scheduled for November 2026, the familiar promise of improved &#8220;service delivery&#8221; has returned to the campaign trail. Political party candidates vow to ensure access to water, sanitation, electricity and other basic services to struggling communities, pledges that many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[244],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-servamus-apr-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4044"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6543,"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions\/6543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/servamusmagazine.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}