Justin Sullivan Photos & Viewpoint from the Streets of SONA 2017

A different battle was fought on the streets of SONA (State of the Nation Address) in Cape Town, South Africa yesterday – one that saw ANC school children aggravate EFF supporters, resulting in police using unnecessary force to disperse children no older than 15… writes JUSTIN SULLIVAN.

An elderly man raising his hand to a younger girl, a female police officer using her baton against a child, and an exchange of bricks and bottles overhead as ANC supporters attempted once again to aggravate the EFF.

All of this to achieve what?

Well, the same can be said about the whole of SONA yesterday – if you tuned into one of the few channels broadcasting the event live, the outcome was dismal and can be summed up as MPs sleeping, Julius (Malema) being involved in a brawl similar to a WWE match, and a very long and uneventful speech delivered by our president.

If we go back to the streets, I was dumbfounded by the motives of these children, still in their school clothes engaging in such blatant malicious activities.

Not only were they bordering the line of intense aggravation, but enjoying the brute force response of the police.

As police began rushing the children with their shields – laughter, smiles and prompting for backup could be heard in the crowd.

Grown men, some clocking in at 100kg+ were using their shields to push back children a quarter of their size – this came after a very short period of confrontation without any proactive attempt at talking to the ANC elders.

When an ANC elder eventually stepped in to talk to the children, one girl pleaded ‘don’t touch me’ as he tried to swiftly move them away from police.

The man detrimentally mistook his authority for power and attempted to hit one of the girls that got involved, which led to more confrontation within the crowd.

Similarly to the man’s mistake, a female police officer had just moments before used her baton on children in front of her – the only use of a baton on the day to my knowledge.

As things calmed down and last light fell, ANC members once again attempted to aggravate the EFF supporters. This time it was only a matter of minutes before bricks and bottles were exchanged overhead, resulting in Stun Grenades being fired in both directions.

The night ended and both supporters went home on the same trains, to homes in the same country with the same problems – nothing was achieved tonight other than boosting egos and having stories to laugh about at school tomorrow.

I’m not surprised by these behaviours anymore, from both the public and police – when you have unaccountable, inefficient and inadequate leadership in all forms of government, you can’t expect integrity to shine. We need inspiration and we need it now.

Violence is not the answer… Violence is not the answer

All Photos © Justin Sullivan. Republished here with kind permission of SullivanPhotography. 

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