TOKOZA, SOUTH AFRICA — When he was 13, Celi Xaba protested against South Africa's white-minority government over the lack of water in his township. Now 29, he's still protesting, and there's still no running water in Tokoza. But this time he's fighting the black-led government that promised salvation from poverty and unemployment.
As thin as a whip, he stands in the bitter winter wind, his bare feet shoved into sandals a couple of sizes too small.
"There's no services here. No water, no electricity, no toilets," he said. "And there's still nothing happening. The people just feel like animals here."
Violent protests recently have erupted in about 20 South African townships, including Tokoza, with people looting supermarkets and shops, blocking roads and burning tires, vehicles and buildings to protest the lack of jobs, housing, water, sanitation and electricity.
In other protests, members of unions affiliated with the ruling African National Congress unleashed a wave of strikes. They included municipal workers who marched and overturned trash bins in Johannesburg on Monday, demanding a 15% pay raise.
"This is not going to stop," political analyst William Gumede predicted. "I think this thing is going to snowball."
For President Jacob Zuma, the protests mark the end of a very short political honeymoon.
But why now, three months after elections won convincingly by the ANC? Many of the protesters helped reelect the ANC after 15 years in power, while the unions were among Zuma's strongest backers in a campaign that saw the party promise to deliver major improvements to people's lives.
"The dissatisfaction of the people has not gone away because of the election," Gumede said. "During the election, Jacob Zuma and his allies really raised expectations even more. Zuma mobilized all this unhappiness to his side during the election.
"People want it now, and it's not happening. People are at the end of their patience."
Many of South Africa's urban shack dwellers are poorly educated rural people, drawn to the city since the early 1990s hoping to find good jobs and money. Instead, most end up unemployed, living in squalor.
"I voted for the ANC because they promised they're going to give us these things. They promise every time they come to give us water, electricity. It's a long time now, but nothing changes," said Joseph Leshomo, 51, of Ramaphosa, a shantytown east of Johannesburg.
