A return to realism

I’ve been in the US on holiday for the past few weeks, and although I’ve kept a distant eye on things from overseas, I am interested to note the distinct rise in political tension since my departure, drawn from the regional voting for the succession nominations. Funnily enough, it mirrors some aspects of what is occurring in US politics at present with the open nature of intra-party conflict in the lead-up to party presidential nominations there.

However, the point of this post is not to compare and contrast South African and US politics, but rather to look at a wider picture of the consequences this intra-party ANC turmoil may have on South Africa’s political landscape. Could this chaos we’ve seen in the past few months herald a Christmas wish of a return to realism within the ANC voting structures?

In my opinion, the methodologies used by the ANC to elect its leaders is obsolete. A system that relies on internal political clout and friends in high places over individual voting and which completely discourages any form of public campaigning on issues does not resonate with the principles of truly democratic politics. Democracy is about the power of each individual’s vote, and if the individual never sees a presidential hopeful campaigning, and thus has no chance to review his/her policies and his/her political stance, how can a mandate be effectively given to regional party structures? Why else would so many people be asking of Jacob Zuma, surely the most actively campaigning “non-campaigning” hopeful ever: “What will a Zuma presidency look like?”

ANC members are asked to give a mandate to their regional structures to vote for a party president, who will become the state president in the next election, on the basis of superficial public popularity alone, which explains why so much ink has been spread describing Mbeki as “cold and distant” and Zuma as a “man of the people”. What about policies? What about governing effectiveness? What about the nation’s future?

In a country dominated by one-party politics, this effectively takes the proverbial man on the street out of the democratic equation of choosing the nation’s future policies. Presidential hopefuls can be voted as the nation’s president through this system without as much as a whimper about their view of the nation’s political horizon.

So, my Christmas wish is for this turmoil to bring about a return to realism in ANC election processes. Let the ANC allow open campaigning for political positions, and encourage an open discussion of candidate policies and viewpoints. Let us give more power to the people of South Africa to choose their president under the status quo of one-party domination. Let’s have a presidential election based on issues and a real future, rather than whether we like how the candidate looks when he gets up in the morning.

Given that we’ll have to wait another eight years for this issue to rear its head again, the chances of real change are about as good as Tony Yengeni’s presidential hopes. But, I’ve been good this year, so perhaps Santa will deliver …

PS: Santa, if you’re listening, let’s get rid of proportional representation while we’re at it. I’ll leave a beer out for you.