Democracy requires an alternative government

The elections raise questions that offer an opportunity for the people of the region to ask about the extent to which their interests as citizens, are represented in the various processes of democracy that operate in the southern region, particularly in the three countries that are bracing for election in 2009.

As a prelude to the discussion, it will be observed that initially, it was only required that a country should hold 'regular elections' in order to satisfy the definition of being a 'democracy'.

It was soon discovered, that regular elections alone do not, even if they are a necessary requirement, the only criteria by which a country satisfies the definition of a democracy.  It was found that, in addition to popular participation in the intervening years was a necessary ingredient in the baking of democracy.

As it turned out, in the immediate years immediately following the achievement of majority rule - and presumably democracy  - participation is often judged by the proliferation of the newly discovered 'civil society' organisations and the levels of their impact of the political decision making process.

Invariably though, the civil society organisations, still intoxicated by the verve and vigour of the anti-colonial struggles, were obedient to the ruling parties which often garnered the overwhelming majority of the vote at the first election.

They would continue to dominate the polls, uninterrupted, for epochs, guarding their newfound hatchery with the same, or more potent jealousy, as did the dethroned colonial administrations.

So, in the celebratory  period immediately after 'independence' or 'majority rule', the combination of regularity of elections and mushrooming of 'civil society' organisations, falls short of the elements needed to establish a full democracy.

This contribution seeks to propose that in addition, consideration must be given to the notion that democracy will exist - all other things being equal, or unequal - where there is the real prospect of a change of government.

In South Africa, and much more emphatically in Botswana, the prospect of a change of government has been for 40 years in the case of the latter, and 14 in respect of the former, not just an elusive mirage, but more aptly, something of a pipedream.

One elder statesperson of the struggle, not named because I had not disclosed my interest in using his comments in this article, made the astute observation that: 'It appears that in all these struggles for national independence, there is always a group that positions itself as the middle class and it tends to take things over...It becomes the only real beneficiary of the struggle,' I paraphrase.  True.

It does appear to be the inevitable outcome of the 'nationalist' struggle, each with its own peculiarities, depending on the country, level of development and the administrative style of the departing colonial power.

The Freedom Charter of the African National Congress of South Africa declares that the country belongs to 'all who live in it', thereby negating the notion that its political adversary was that administration of foreigners who arrived at the Cape in 1652. 

Or, put another way, the declaration puts into operation the idea that length of stay had indeed transformed the bona fides of the Dutch settlers to make them part of the indigenous.

The implication, among several others too many to enumerate here, is that the nationalist struggle in South Africa was fought to rid the country of apartheid first and foremost, and that this having been achieved, the other desirables of a democracy would follow.

The ANC, with a registered membership of 600,000, has relied more on historical allegiances and its 'brand' built over 76 years of resistance to 'white' domination to capture the 87 percent of the electorate in 2004.

It is that brand, and propriety over the original goals of the ANC, which are being contested for by the rebels - the word is used positively in the Latin American sense - and the  'barata-phathi' used as in the Botswana nuance.

The split at the ANC, considered healthy even by what seems to be a silent majority among the ANC's barataphathi, bodes well for the cultivation of a healthier political environment for democracy in that country.

The debate has already started, more vibrantly in the press than on television (which, like Btv, appears to be more obsessed with replication of American soapies), in anticipation of the imminent general election.

'ANC admits it had lost touch with society,' rings one headline in the Friday The Star of 28 November. In that story the paper's political bureau reports that 'The ANC has admitted to taking the electorate for granted, and for being out of touch with the grassroots.

'This is contained in a draft manifesto to be presented at its three-day conference to start in Kempton Park today'.

Another story points out that a TNS survey released on the same day reveals that  'although the ANC continues to hold its own in the urban South Africa, uncertainty among voters is rising with the emergence of the Congress of the People (COPE),' formed after the 'recall' of former President, Thabo Mbeki, two months ago.

Early indications are that as 'one in five are undecided, and 14 percent stay mum', that factor appears to be playing out in favour of the Democratic Alliance.

More significantly though, according to Monday's Business Day: 'The global financial crisis will result in the ANC tempering its election promises'.  It quotes policy boss, Jeff Radebe pondering that  'We have not decided yet  (if the 5-million job target) will go into the manifesto'.

A picture caption in the same issue says: 'Social Development Minister, Zola Skweiya, sounds a note of caution on social security plan'.

The ANC spokespersons, inside government, and at Luthuli House - the ANC's headquarters  - are keen to dampen any exaggerations about current government spending on social security and other safety nets.  'The ANC is a responsible government, and we are not going to make any false promises,' the drafters of the ANC's campaign manifesto are quick to point out.

The breakaway Congress of the People is not sitting idle.  The newspapers report that: 'A government led by the Congress of the People (COPE) will bring back the Scorpions, introduce compulsory civic education in schools, create a national cadet system and review BEE and labour policies.  COPE has also called for a public debate on affirmative action,' the papers say.

The debate appears to be shifting in the direction of issues even as the President of the barataphathi, Jacob Zuma is unlikely to have complete his visitations to the courts to answer to charges f corruption related to the infamous arms deal for which his business advisor was convicted and imprisoned.

The invective will not go away though, as Zuma implied that the breakaway group was assembled by 'snakes', also prompting the talkative and war-mongering youth leader, Julius Malema, to come to his aid, shouting the politically costly declaration: 'I'll kill for Zuma', also questioning the integrity of the country's justice system.

Evidently, the real threat of a viable alternative government in the making at COPE and the other opposition, has forced the steady shift away from insult and swearing after the Polokwane congress where Mbeki was ousted, to issues that matter to the electorate.
Furthermore, spectre of a competitive opposition appears to have awoken the ruling ANC to not only commit to greater accountability, but also to seek refurbishment of its policies to take good account of the immediate interests of the voting public.

Already, the partners of the ANC at the tripartite alliance are making louder noises about remoulding policy to take more serious account of the workers and trade unions, the poor and other sections of the marginalised, particularly the rural populace which Zuma is also wooing much more actively than before.

The South Africans can thank the largeness of the country's economy which is able to sponsor a variety of competing political organisations which together, or individually, could emerge as an alternative government.

The country also boasts a sophisticated juridical system that should be able to withstand the pressures of black nationalist sentiment which are not always consonant with the establishment of a new morality that fosters openness and accountability. 

By his own admission, Zuma understands that charges against him will not go away because he is now president of the ANC, or because he aspires to hold the same position at a national level.

 He has reported to his supporters that he may have to make several return trips to Pietamaritzburg or Braamfontein where the constitutional court sits before his legal issues are settled, perhaps even as the election campaign heats up.

Very quickly, South African civil society has learnt that its usefulness lies precisely t in its capacity to disengage from the political agenda of the ruling party.  The anti-AIDS activists, even if they have not achieved all their objectives, have been critical of the official position on the campaign against the scourge, and they will, it appears, be taken quiet seriously at the newly founded COPE and other opposition organisations.

Even as the 'barata-phathi' sent the ever loquacious Malema and his lot to the Botswana Democratic Party to learn the tricks that they want to employ to domesticate the South African Broadcasting Corporation, they will be confronted with an oversight committee at their Parliament and a literate public that will want to know why their taxes are used to suppress information about opposition, permitting only propaganda about the ruling party to pass.

It has taken a long 14 years in South Africa to make the turn around that could usher in something of a possibility of an alternative government. 

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, provides the striking example, older than South Africa, of a democracy that can claim a fairly robust if domesticated civil society-as vibrant, as ZANU-PF will permit - and regular elections, but no real prospect of a constitutional change of government.

President Robert Mugabe, adds one more condition to the establishment of democracy, a condition over which he alone shall preside: transfer of land illegally appropriated from the indigenous, to its original owners. Otherwise, any electoral fidgeting will be of no consequence as, democracy or no democracy.

Mugabe's awkward politics raises the unsettling question, especially among the leaders of the southern African region who came to power by way of armed struggle, however limited, about whether democracy will be of any substance when it is disassociated from the entitlement to reclaim 'stolen' land.

His tussles with the IMF, the World Bank and the industrialised countries of the West about how such amends should be made have only driven him against the wall, having lost all potential allies in the collapsed eastern bloc countries, and in SADC.

But that is asking for a democracy that places economic advantage for the majority   ahead of the ritual of regular elections, civil society participation and the real possibility of a change of government.

The general climate in the region, fuelled by the western countries and their surrogate puppet regimes in the region, has effectively turned against Mugabe's demands for restitution of land, even if such demands were initially believed to be virtuous in the first ten years of his rule.

Mugabe's regime will not last beyond Christmas.  Zimbabwe will revert to yet another of those democracies where there shall be regular elections, civil society noises, and accommodation of the possibility of change of government, but no restoration of the economic rights of the indigenous, least of all, in the form of ploughable land.

Botswana boasts 42 years of one party rule, regular elections and a civil society that could very well serve as chapters of the ruling party.

Which of the civil society organisations have attempted debate on questions of a popularly elected president, domination of the executive by the army, and expenditure on the armed services well above returns in comparison to the good that could be done by directing that money to health and education?

Which of the civil society organisations has revisited the controversy around the CKGR, the half-truths that were told by the government, and the abuse of the rights of indigenous peoples?

The government press offers the best example to the region on how best to dress the state-sponsored media under the cloak of the public media while ensuring that it remains entirely under the control of the ruling party.

All of this towards the end of obliterating and possibility of the chance of a change of government.