A funny thing happened a while ago. The president of COSATU, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, the organisation that forms part of the governing alliance, warned South Africans that Helen Zille might become president. This was said as a warning, because the government is not delivering some of the most basic services in South Africa. It caused a great uproar, this statement by mr. Vavi, and it is, of course, no wonder given the South African context.
The beautiful land that is South Africa, is on very unstable ground. In many parts of the country, local government has come to a standstill. Violence is at the order of the day. The government is failing to deliver services and thus it is breaking some of the most basic human rights of many South Africans. Many people does not have clean water. They live in environments that are dangerous to their health. In many townships, schools are closing down and those that still exists are in a terrible state.
Yet when people observe that there might be a change in government, there is a huge uproar...
This raises the question, is South Africa a true democracy? The answer is of course, NO. What happens in democracies is that when a government does not deliver services, they get voted out. But in South Africa, even hinting at the possibility that somebody else should govern shows how far the country still has to go.
In the hierarchy of leadership, Zwelinzima Vavi does not rank on the highest spot. He is controversial sometimes. But one has to appreciate the fact that he can be so brutally honest at times. He is one of the very few REALY influential leaders in South Africa who is willing to stand up and say things are wrong as it is. And people do not like this, because if it is some leader of a small political party that makes these statements, one can ignore them, but here is a man that is the leader of COSATU, an important partner in the tri-party alliance.
Vavi truly says things the way he sees it, like it or not, and this is the kind of leadership one needs in a democracy. It was not that long ago that Pik Botha said South Africa could have a black president, and it caused a similar uproar. Of course, the situation is different to then, but Vavi’s warning should not be underestimated. A lot of support might be lost by the leading party in the upcoming election.
Still, South Africa is a long way away from being a true democracy, and elections is nothing but a racial census, as has been noted by some observers. When you find leaders standing in front of churches and campaigning for the ANC, making racial statements about the Western Cape leadership, the president comparing opposition leaders to Satan and in in general a great number of racially driven remarks, then one cannot help but agree with the negative way in which South Africa’s democracy is sometimes painted.
South Africa will never have a woman or a white president, this a something that one so often hear when one goes around the country. The leader of the opposition is both white and a woman.
But there is something else South Africa will also never have unless we start to take democracy serious, and that is a prosperous country for all. As things stand, very few are benefiting from the current state of affairs. The gap between rich and poor have increased since 1994. The ruling party just loves to shift blame for this, despite them having the power in their hands...
South Africa will need to move beyond racial politics. There is still a long way to go if we want to really function as a true democracy. It is a pity that racial remarks still forms such a strong part of the governments rhetoric so many years after the end of apartheid. The power truly lies with ordinary South Africans to determine their fate. If we can learn to hold politicians accountable for their promises, and vote them out if they do not deliver services, then this country can be wonderful. But this would mean that we would have to learn to trust people that are different to ourselves. We must learn to take hands as South Africans and truly work together.
The election of Obama as the president of the USA was a historical event. The USA has more white voters that black voters. It is proof of a functioning democracy, a democracy where race plays almost no role, when a black man is voted into power by white people. Hopefully the day will come when something like this can happen in South Africa. It would be much more bearable in the end than a country that is being completely destroyed as it currently is.
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