Is the African National Congress truly committed to democracy?

South Africa has since 1994 been the paragon of democracy in Africa. We have remained the benchmark upon which many of our peers have been measured against. While South Africa remains the paragon of virtues of democracy in Africa, the ruling party that has been the architect of the emancipation of the oppressed and the birth to the current democratic order is ironically appearing more and more determined to reverse the gains it has brought about. Democratic principles are not limited solely to the electoral process, which the current leadership of the ANC appears to use as the sole yardstick by which to measure itself. Respect for rule of law, human dignity and gender equality are among those virtues which must be preserved with jealousy.

The leadership of the ANC has not demonstrated by conduct their concerted endeavour in defending these amiable virtues which form a distinguishing characteristic between a Stalinist and a democratic order. As a member of the African Union (AU), the SADC and important player in the global stage, South Africa cannot afford to offend and betray the covenant made in 1994, that “never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”

Nelson Mandela in 1994 during his inaugural address said: “We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity.” Can we truly without reservation proclaim ourselves, yet again at this momentous turning point of our politics, to be walking tall; at no cost of whatever humiliation and embarrassment born out of the alien conduct of the leadership of the ruling party?

We cannot continue on the path of paying lip service to democratic virtues when the good governance demands our leaders become trustees to all our people. The strength of our democracy is dependent on an unhampered and infinite preservation of all our aspirational virtues that permeated the struggle for emancipation of our people.

In the face of great perils the burden of responsibility to protect and perpetuate the integrity of democracy weighs heavily on our shoulders. It is up to us to draw the strength from the renewed exuberance among the multicoloured electorate, young and old, who were almost on the verge of despair. Mandela in 1994 said, “The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement,” and it is our task to ensure that it continues to shine brightly on the future that we defined for ourselves. Our leaders should by all means resist the temptation of political expediency and execute the arduous task allotted to their charge.

When addressing a rally in Soweto on November 3 2008, Jacob Zuma said: “As South Africans we are guaranteed the right to human dignity, equality before the law, the right of workers to be treated with dignity, the independence of the judiciary and all spheres of government to pursue their work without fear or favour.”

Jacob Zuma I must admit possesses a rare competency in making commendable pronouncements at the right time to the right audience, then immediately forgetting what he said and contradicting himself with remorseless regularity. All that Zuma had said as quoted above is consistent with the democratic principles which must be preserved and restored where they may have been compromised. It is, however, disconcerting that Zuma, a likely president of the country would, before a crowd of 20 000 supporters, endorse vigilantism when addressing the issue of crime. According to Zuma suspected criminals should not be accorded their rights as enshrined in the constitution.

He believes a person who has committed murder in the presence of others cannot be deemed a suspect but must be declared a murderer. This is grossly hypocritical coming from a man who has moaned without pause that his rights have been trampled upon by the media and the NPA, before his case was heard by a court of law. The principles of equality before the law appear to elude the president of the ANC as well as respect for the rights of others. It is such statements that further strengthen the argument by Mosiua Lekota that the ANC is displaying utter disrespect for the national constitution. If Zuma truly believes others should be pronounced guilty of certain acts of criminality before a court of law can pass its verdict, similarly the media in his detractors should be allowed to pass their judgment on his conduct. Even more ridiculous is his suggestion of sending pregnant school girls to concentration camps in rural areas!

The ANC has in recent times consistently undermined the rights of others to express freely without fear their freedom of expression and association. The urgent court interdict on October 31 2008 to prevent Lekota and his group from using the names, SA National Congress or SA National Convention or the letters SANC, during their convention, was vindictive and a desperate attempt to prevent the convention from proceeding as planned. The ANC spokesperson Steyn Speed claims the abovementioned names and acronym are confusingly similar to the ANC’s brand, hence their urgent application for a court interdict.

The City Press reported on November 2 2008 that it “had established that members of the ANC in numerous provinces were instructed to organise extraordinary sittings of provincial executive committees (PECs), in what was perceived as a tactic to ensure its leaders did not attend the convention.” These extraordinary sittings were deliberately orgainsed to encroach on the individual rights of ANC members to associate with whomever they please.

The City Press quoted a PEC member from Limpopo who said “Those who do not attend must explain their whereabouts. Otherwise the going assumption is that if you are not at the party meeting, you are at the convention and therefore must from now on be treated with suspicion.” It is well and good to make all the right statements but if not matched by conduct they amount to nothing.

The current ANC is driven by populism and it appears to be their election strategy to advance populist rhetoric at all costs and promote their own branch of “popular democracy.” The leadership of the ANC have pronounced themselves as champions of the poor, to the extent that Zuma referred to a crowed gathered at Jabulane Stadium, including himself, as “we the poor!” Popular democracy demands that the collective wisdom of ordinary people be translated into polity that benefits them instead of policy being dictated by a class of elites to the masses. It is the branch of democracy that Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela appear to have espoused and advanced in Latin America. While Zuma includes himself and the ANC in the phrase “we the poor” he is being disingenuous as the ANC leadership is not composed of any poor individuals. The ANC national executive committee comprises elites, as has been the case for time immemorial, who believe themselves a cut or two above the people they pretend to represent.

The ANC would like us to believe that its vision emerges from the grassroots; that it is people driven as opposed to elite driven. No direct consultation is done with those they pretend to represent before policy is formulated; nor are those poor part of the formulation of policy. The ANC elites held a conference where policies were agreed upon based on their assumptions of what the people need. These are individuals who preach the advancement of interests of the people as opposed to those of capital, yet the majority making policy decisions in the ANC national executive committee are capitalists, along with few and influential communists. The idea that they advance a class struggle against international capital may be a fallacy, but the concern is the attempt to subordinate the national constitution to that of the ANC as well as offend democratic virtues in promotion of this fallacy.

It is still unclear whether the current leadership of the ANC is truly committed to the preservation of democracy as we all know it. Perhaps we should remind the leadership of the ANC of the covenant made in 1994 as poignantly announced by Nelson Mandela during his inauguration as the first democratic president of South Africa. “Never, never and never again, shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another!”