insomnomaniac

Democracy on the rocks

Well, I can't say I'm surprised, although I am saddened by this news that South Africa's young democracy might be going the way of the Do-do pretty soon.

South Africa's promise was enshrined in the new constitution adopted in 1996 with enlightened provisions regarding transparency, accountability, and constitutional checks and balances. But the ANC's hegemony is close to absolute and with that comes the usual perils of absolute power.

Under President Thabo Mbeki there has been a concentration of power in the office of the presidency to enhance the delivery of service and stamp out corruption. However, in a country as new to democracy as South Africa, there is a fine line between the point at which the concentration of power begins to disenfranchise rather than empower the people.

The electoral system of proportional representation means that the first loyalty of members of parliament is to the party, not the public. Voters vote for parties, not individuals. As a result, the African masses, who were excluded from electoral representation during apartheid, are still powerless in many respects. They have the right to a non-racial franchise for which the struggle was fought but, paradoxically, little room to choose.

The ANC enjoys a 70 percent majority in parliament, more than enough to amend the constitution at will. It rubber-stamps the wishes of the executive and exercises little oversight. Having chafed at suggestions that it might use its huge majority to amend the constitution that was so painstakingly negotiated in 1994 and finalized in 1996, ANC parliament members have amended the constitution 12 times in the past eight years.

It's only a matter of time before the ANC tries to use its huge power to completely subjugate those who disagree with them (how ironic for a party that was supposed to be a "liberation" movement), and it's already happening that those who see that writing on the wall are fighting back using violence against ANC candidates and party members.

We should thank our lucky stars every day--nay, every HOUR of every day--that we still live in a country in which there is enough difference of opinion (some call it a "division" I call it a safety net) to keep either of our two most powerful parties from enjoying such an absolute majority that we would lose our freedoms.

[Quick, mark the hour and the day...It's not often you'll see me express appreciation for the dark side!]

Posted by insomnomaniac at February 28, 2006 11:31 PM | TrackBack