Deference, amnesty and democracy in the new South Africa: The Zuma test case

This is my first official blog on Thought Leader and there is so much going on in the country that I don’t know where to begin. All the hullabaloo and angst that has been generated over Zuma’s pending trial brings three major issues to mind about a deferential political culture, the absurdity of offering amnesty, and the violent, vitriolic attempts to potentially overturn democracy in the “new” South Africa.

A deferential political culture?
I am not negative by nature and I love my adopted country. I consider myself a critical scholar who is obliged to critique the society that I am part of. As a foreigner I am often surprised at certain trends in South African politics. The most glaring is the deference shown to political elites. I mean politicians around the world are often self-serving elitist pricks who should be subject to criticism, abuse if necessary and by all means put under the spotlight for their actions.

So many people fought and died for the right to vote, for equality before the law and for a new social order. Yet, so many people seem to think that the leaders cannot and should not be accountable for their actions and not be subject to the same laws as the rest of the country.

Where has this deference arisen from? Well for one, the party list system is flawed as there is no system in place for collective representation or accountability by the leaders. The party elects members as it sees fit and excises those who criticise the leaders. Enough about that for now as I turn my attention to recent assaults on democracy and calls for amnesty in regards to the arms deal. I promise to write more about this in the future.

Amnesty or amnesia?
I cannot believe that intelligent people or anyone for that matter, actually think an amnesty is a good thing for South Africa, or even remotely fair.

Michael Trapido argues that “The Mbeki and Zuma amnesty in return for safeguarding our democracy would unite the party, eliminate political uncertainty and lift the mood of the whole country”.

What rubbish. This will mean that rules don’t apply to the elites; mob rule is the standard bearer of what is right and democracy is a sham. If every time there is a criticism of the government and lackeys and other supporters promise violence if they don’t get their way, do we allow them to hold the country hostage?

I am appalled by some of his supporters who make claims that Zuma will be president no matter what the outcome of the court ruling. Just as the ideologue Manamela has said: “We guarantee that Zuma will be the president of the country … what won’t happen is even imagining him wearing orange [prison] overalls.”

It’s not his choice to make.

Today Zuma is to appear on court. I am constantly surprised at the behaviour of a man who claims he wishes to clear his name but then does everything in his power not to do so. The courts are independent and their independence has been shown to work (so far). Let them do their job and if Zuma is innocent then let him clear his name and resume his duties as ANC president. If the courts become subject to the mobs and whims of the ANC and are actively stopped from doing their duties then the independence of the courts is over.

On democracy
There is supposed to be a signature campaign to collect signatures from “the people” to see if they wish Zuma to have his day in court. The signature campaign is absurd as the people cannot decide by mob rule that a man is innocent because they say so. What a twisted idea of democracy. This is why we have a Constitution and independent judiciary; it’s to safeguard against mob rule among other abuses from elites.

There have even been threats made to change the Constitution so that a sitting president cannot be charged. I shudder at that change. What changes could follow that one are rather scary. This country should never be subject to such abuse by its leaders and their lackeys. The ANC is not the state and never should be allowed to alter the structures of the state institutions to suit its own elitist enterprises. Zuma needs no amnesty, no excuses, just his day in court.

To bring this full circle back to my comments of the deferential political culture I will close by saying the political elites in any country must be held to the highest standards of behaviour and ethics. Any deviation from the straight and narrow must spell the end of their political career.