Chairperson, as in last year's budget debate, I am deputising for Mr Tozamile Botha, who is currently recovering from surgery.
Two days ago, in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, residents were protesting against the appalling quality of water provided by their local authority. They torched municipal buildings and destroyed expensive construction machinery that was meant to improve municipal infrastructure.
In this morning's news it was reported that unrest was flaring up in Ekurhuleni. This is frighteningly reminiscent of South Africa in the late 1980s, when people took to the streets to protest against a corrupt and unjust local governance system and lack of basic rights and services.
The latest service delivery protests are simply becoming part of the statistics of almost daily occurrences that hardly make news headlines anymore, except when it turns ugly and people lose their lives or there are serious injuries.