2007年VOA标准英语-S. Africans Increasingly Impatient at Slow Serv

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
25 July 2007

A recent survey has found that some 27 percent of South Africans are dissatisfied with services delivered at the local government level, a finding born out by ever more frequent protests across many areas of the country.  This week saw protests in Kliptown, Soweto - the site of the 1955 Congress of the People where a document calling for human rights for all South Africans was adopted.  Delia Robertson reports from our bureau in Johannesburg.

It is a sound almost obscenely incongruous for what is hallowed ground in post-apartheid South Africa.  Rubber bullets being fired at protesters in Kliptown, Soweto: the site where in June 1955 the Congress of the People adopted a Freedom Charter in defiance¹ of the apartheid government.  The document that 40 years later, in 1996, was the sub-text in almost every paragraph of the country's constitution, now regarded by many as one of the best in the modern world.

And it was about some of the most basic promises in the Charter that the residents of Kliptown were protesting this week:  "All people shall have the right to live where they choose, be decently housed, and to bring up their families in comfort and security; Slums shall be demolished², and new suburbs built . . ."

Over the past several years in South Africa there have been hundreds of protests, about housing, poor infrastructure³, corruption⁴, poor health facilities, and more.  The Kliptown demonstration⁵ is about what residents consider a failure by the government to deliver on its promises of proper houses to replace informal settlements. 

Life in Kliptown is not good, one protester told national television.

"And we think if he [Johannesburg Mayor] Masondo can come around in Kliptown . . . not to come to the shop in Kliptown and say Kliptown is OK.  Kliptown is not OK," he said.

In fact there has been much progress in delivery at the local level in South Africa.  Eighty-three percent of South Africans now have potable water on tap . . . up from 59 percent in 1994.  Basic health care services are available in hundreds of rural communities, where previously⁶ there was none.  And, says Lucius Botes of the University of the Free State, millions of houses have been built.

"It is not often in other countries in the world where you have seen a government manage to roll out 1.5 million houses," Botes said.

Botes, co-author of a soon-to-be-released report of a study into the reasons and lessons to be learned from the protests, says that good news aside, at the local level government is often weak and sometimes rudderless.  Most importantly, he says, local governments are failing at the basics, in their communications with the people they have been elected to serve.

"Is the point of service delivery also a point of efficiency?  Be it where you meet your councilor, your political representative or where you engage with at an administrative⁷ level, in other words any front line official," Botes said. "So it is all about how responsive is the service and the client interface⁸ we bring to our people and I think that is where, in most cases, it went wrong."

Botes says poor communications often result in representatives and officials appearing to be arrogant⁹ and disinterested¹⁰.  This is exacerbated¹¹ he says, by the failures of many local authorities to introduce any performances evaluation¹² measures.

"In the six or seven cases that we have studied, we could not detect a single one, where there was a proper complaints system institutionalized, no effective complaints management system; nobody could tell you the number of complaints in the system, what are the nature of the complaints," Botes said. "Also [there is] very little evidence where people tried to measure service delivery, in other words client satisfaction type-of-service, nothing."

The impact of the protests is becoming more severe.  While most protests have been peaceful, more and more are resulting in violence.  And while most are short, a few hours, a day or perhaps two, some have dragged on for weeks or even months. 

When that happens, such as in Khutsong near Johannesburg, the impact is felt deep in the community.  Overall service levels deteriorated¹³, payments of rates and utilities plummeted¹⁴, and many businesses suffered losses.  And because teachers and students have become involved, there has been no education in Khutsong since April.

1 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

2 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

3 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

8 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

9 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

10 disinterested   

adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的

参考例句：

• He is impartial and disinterested.他公正无私。
• He's always on the make,I have never known him do a disinterested action.他这个人一贯都是唯利是图，我从来不知道他有什么无私的行动。

11 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

13 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

14 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》