Politics/South Africa
After 27 Years of Democracy South Africa Is More Unequal Than During Apartheid
What happened in July — the violence and looting — is a wake-up call
Civil unrest erupted on July 12 after the jailing of ex-President Jacob Zuma for contempt by the Constitutional Court — the highest judicial body in the country.
Zuma had refused to appear at the Zondo Commission unless Judge Zondo recused himself, stating without facts to back up his argument that Zondo was biased against him. The judge denied Zuma’s application for recusal, after which the ex-President walked out of the Commission. He never returned despite being issued a summons to appear.
The uprising in two of the country’s 9 provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng — the economic hubs of the country — came as no surprise.
Extreme poverty and lack of progress in creating a just and fair society were the kindling that needed just one match to set it alight.
What went wrong? There’s no definitive answer.
“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” — Aristotle
Analysis of social media activities before and during this period point to the Zuma faction in the African National Congress (A.N.C.), including his son and daughter, setting the fire alight. They told people where to go, what to target. Their aim was to make the country ungovernable.
In my book, that’s treason, but there’s a reason we’ll never know the full story.
(A month later, only 15 low-profile instigators face charges — no members of the Zuma family yet.)
History teaches us problems abound when one party rules a country for too long.
The A.N.C. has ruled the country since the start of democracy in 1994. The framework and procedures of the party have created a shadow state answerable to itself, and not the country.
More on that later.
“In a sound democracy, our rulers ought to be changed routinely, like diapers, for the same reason.” — Dick Nolan
A brief history of events leading up to July’s insurrection
Zuma’s firing of the then Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan while he was overseas drumming up foreign investment in South Africa was the final nail in his coffin.
Our currency tanked.
Civil society marched with the rallying cry “Zuma Must Fall”.
Party veterans persuaded Zuma to resign on February 14, 2018. (He’d survived nine votes of no confidence in Parliament).
Shortly before his resignation, Zuma had approved the setting up a Judicial Commission of Enquiry into State Capture, prompted by the investigative report of the then Public Protector Prof Thuli Madonsela.
Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is the Commission Chair — hence the moniker, the Zondo Commission. The Enquiry closed last week, three years after inception.
The evidence presented in 30-plus affidavits from witnesses and whistle blowers is undeniable. Zuma created a fiefdom during his rule. Corruption, patronage, and self-interest grew under his watch, as did a private army of secret agents, many trained in Russia, and issued with arms and ammunition.
(The recent uprising points to their still being active.)
Similar to Mugabe’s supporters in Zimbabwe, those loyal to the Zuma faction within the ANC believe in his innocence and decry his treatment. Their anger, and blind belief in his innocence, had been building for months.
Zuma has used Stalingrad tactics in his legal defence, not only in failing to appear at the Zondo Commissions, but in the Arms Deal corruption case in which French firm Thales is co-accused. He repeats ad nauseam he wants his day in court, but continues to delay proceedings with the help of his disingenuous legal representatives.
He wants the chief prosecutor on the arms corruption charges to recuse himself because he’s biased.
(The phrase ‘Stalingrad tactics’ is often used to describe those charged in criminal or civil cases who use methods such as appealing every ruling that is unfavorable to the defendant, to delay or stave off legal proceedings.)
Zuma went to jail voluntarily just before midnight on Wednesday, 7 July. He told his supporters on Sunday, 4 July he would resist arrest. They had gathered at his Nkandla homestead to defend him from the police.
(He also gave a press conference that evening, reminiscent of former President Trump. If you have 25 minutes, you can watch here.)
On Friday 6 August, news broke that Zuma was in hospital for medical tests. This resulted in the postponement of the Arms Deal case, where his recusal application was due to be heard on 10 August.
Coincidence?
The presiding judge requested a more detailed “sick note”. Zuma’s attorneys submitted a vague medical report — like that submitted to the Zondo Commission in late 2020. The court has ordered that an independent medical expert examine him.
Now Zuma has undergone surgery?!?
His mystery illness has the country baffled, but his followers believe his punishment is cruel and unjust.
The A.N.C. is answerable only to itself
To understand why governance in South Africa has deteriorated over the decades, one needs to understand the processes within the party that perpetuate this decline.
The A.N.C. was founded in 1912, looking to the Westminster and US electoral systems as the model for a future democratic South Africa. Its founding ethos was Christian, and it embraced non-racialism and equal rights for all.
The Communist Party of South Africa was founded by whites nine years later, in 1921. But by 1929 it had its first black secretary-general, Albert Nzula. The Soviet regime, headed by Stalin, directed this radical change.
In 1928, Party circles at the 6th Congress of the Communist International in Moscow fiercely debated the slogan for an independent native republic. The South African Communist Party (S.A.C.P.) formally adopted it at their conference held 28 December 1928 through 1 January 1929:
“An independent native South African republic as a stage towards a workers’ and peasants’ republic, with full equal rights for all races, black, coloured and white”.
This shifted the demographics of the S.A.C.P. from white workers and intellectuals toward increasing ranks of unorganized black workers and peasants.
After the apartheid government banned the S.A.C.P. in 1953, the A.N.C. shifted decisively during 1953–1960 from a UK- model of parliamentary democracy, with M.P.s elected by voters as individuals under their own names in local constituencies, to a Soviet despotic mentality.
Members in exile regarded as “dissidents” were repressed and imprisoned in a Soviet-model gulag at Quatro during the Cold War in Angola.
The A.N.C. in exile successfully transferred this political culture to post-apartheid South Africa in 1994 through the new electoral law.
In elections to the National Assembly and provincial councils, and in half of municipal seats, we vote for a political party and not an individual candidate. Hence, no individual is directly accountable to the electorate, only to their political party.
South Africans don’t vote for a President. Since the A.N.C. continues to hold the majority in Parliament (though it dropped below 60% in the 2019 elections), their leader is by default the President of the country.
A major conflict of interests when one considers serving the interests of the party takes precedence over those of the nation.
Where to now?
In his 1961 book “The Wretched of the Earth”, the Martinican philosopher, Frantz Fanon highlighted how post-colonial African states have been compromised through the betrayal of the masses by their leaders, who “prostituted” their freedom for personal benefit.
60 years later, a parallel or shadow state, accountable only to itself, operates inside the A.N.C. Their powerful Deployment Committee ‘recommends’ which cadres to appoint to what positions within government. Loyalty to the party, party membership, and compliance with party prescripts are issues relevant to such appointments.
They still address each other as “comrade”.
In his last appearance at the Zondo Commission, current President Cyruk Ramaphosa proffered his usual platitudes, for example “All the mishaps and things that we didn’t do properly are now being done properly and will be done properly.”
How inspiring!
“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes.” — Peter F. Drucker
South Africans have to wake up and vote the A.N.C. out.
On a lighter note, the Ndlovu Youth Choir lifted our spirits a week after the devastation with this song to support our Rugby World Cup Champions before their 3-Test series against the British and Irish Lions, which South Africa won 2–1!
(Shosholoza is our unofficial national anthem!)
Nothing beats sport and music to unite a nation!
Tagging Nombuso Makhubu who has been waiting for this!
Thank you for reading.
For more on South Africa, here is a story I wrote on Freedom Day, 27 April: