Chance+for+SA+to+recommit+itself+to+democracy,+Sipho+Seepe,+B+Day



=Chance for SA to recommit itself to democracy=


 * Sipho Seepe, Business Day, 12 December 2007**

We are led to believe the ongoing bloodletting in the African National Congress (ANC) is somehow alien to the party.

Far from it, this is a consequence of the ANC’s culture of intolerance and its insatiable appetite for power. The culture can be traced as far back as the 1980s when the ANC sought to entrench its political hegemony.

Post-1994 battles took the form of delegitimising alternative perspectives. Instead of robust intellectual engagement, the ANC resorted to labelling, intimidation and character assassination of political opponents.

Having failed to develop a democratic culture of engagement, ANC members can only do what they know best. Nelson Mandela, Jeremy Cronin and Desmond Tutu were roundly condemned for daring to question aspects of Thabo Mbeki’s rule.

Mandela was labelled an agent of the pharmaceutical companies when he called on the government to roll out antiretroviral medication to pregnant HIV-infected women. Cronin was told that the ANC did not need a white messiah. Similarly, Tutu was branded a liar and a creation of the white media.

The bloodletting we see is a case of chickens coming home to roost. The ferocity of the attacks is fuelled by the scramble for resources and the corrupting patronage that has become a defining feature of the Mbeki regime. We mistakenly overrated the ANC’s democratic credentials by equating the struggle for democracy with a commitment to democracy.

The declaration by ANC parliamentarians that the Zimbabwean elections were fundamentally free and fair despite the state-sponsored terror preceding them should have sent warning signals. The ANC is not beyond resorting to similar undemocratic practices should its political power base be threatened.

The deployment of ministers, state resources and state organs in a last-ditch attempt to preserve the status quo should come as no surprise. The vulgarity of ministers carrying bags of money to buy votes speaks volumes about the investment attached to the Mbeki project.

In a bid to subvert the democratic outcome, some have resorted to the crudest form of opportunism in the guise of advancing women’s emancipation. Feminism cannot be reduced to politics of biology. Being black is not a guarantee that one would advance a black agenda. The same applies to being a woman. We have rallied against tokenism and the same should apply in this case. The ANC Women’s League seems to have understood this reality. Some women can see through Mbeki’s self-serving attempts to project himself as a champion of women’s emancipation.

Mbeki’s drum majorettes were nowhere to be found when women needed them most. None of them stood up to Mbeki when he pushed Winnie Mandela in full view of the youth and the international media. None of them raised their voices when Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was dismissed on the eve of Women’s Day for simply stating the obvious: that our hospitals have become death traps, and for her willingness to distance herself from the Mbeki’s stance on HIV/AIDS. They were nowhere to be seen when the Treatment Action Campaign led a campaign to ensure HIV-positive pregnant women receive antiretrovirals to save their children.

What we see is not so much an advancement of women’s causes but crass opportunism driven by selfinterest to protect the privileges and material interests that were bestowed by the Mbeki regime.

We should also not fall victim to the scaremongering that surrounds the prospect of a Jacob Zuma presidency. Concern is raised that a Zuma presidency would drive away international investors. Yet a reality check shows that international investors have been keen to give an audience to Zuma. He has addressed European Union business leaders, opinion makers and big investors in the US, the UK and at home. The investors are only interested in hearing that political stability will prevail. Interestingly, this fear-mongering — the aim of which is to subvert democracy — is generated from within the ANC.

The other concern of late is whether Mbeki should remain as national president for the remainder of his term. A notion is advanced that the removal of Mbeki from office would be undemocratic. Yet the biggest danger to democracy is the continuation of Mbeki. No leader who has lost the confidence of his own party should be allowed to govern. At the best of times he has been unrestrained in using state organs to frustrate his political opponents. If he suffers humiliation in Polokwane, he would pose a far greater danger.

Secondly, it is not uncommon for leaders to be asked to recuse themselves from office once they have suffered defeat. PW Botha was replaced by FW de Klerk when his party lost confidence in him. The same happened to Margaret Thatcher and recently to Tony Blair. Only those who fear democracy can advance such baseless notions that removing Mbeki would be undemocratic.

Democracy involves fundamentally changing the guard. SA should not short-change itself in its embrace of the democratic project. We need to remind ourselves — the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.


 * Prof Seepe is president of the South African Institute of Race Relations


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A658769**

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