So Many Questions

Leader of the United Democratic Movement Bantu Holomisa has called for a national convention to solve South Africa’s crisis. Chris Barron asked him . . .

What are you hoping will come from a convention? I hope we can emerge with consensus on a number of critical issues.

Such as? The land issue, the economy . . .

Can there possibly be consensus between the EFF and DA on questions of land and the economy? Fortunately, we have a precedent in this country. In this country we adopted a policy where we don’t have to throw stones at each other, but we must sit around a table and find a solution. That is the style of South Africa. If we can manage that the EFF and DA can work together in local government, a thing which was not expected before, it means that the EFF and DA and many others, before putting the ideology of their individual parties, put the interests of South Africa first.

The hard part is agreeing on how best to achieve these interests, isn’t it? That is precisely why I recommended that we have a summit and draw up an agenda and identify areas that are critical. And then we can agree on the way forward. I envisage a situation where each leader, each political party, meets in that summit and we say, ‘From our point of view we feel the land issue must be on the agenda because . . .’

What are the chances of consensus when one party believes in expropriation without compensation and the other in private property? We can’t continue to issue those different signals perpetually. At some stage we need to converge and face each other head on and say, ‘What do you mean by this or that?’ And then we talk about it and find each other.

You don’t think it will be an expensive exercise in futility? I doubt that very much. Because this country needs solutions to those issues urgently.

What if the EFF’s idea of a solution is Venezuela? You had the ANC before which was talking nationalisation. Then when they sat round the table and faced reality they adjusted their policy.

You believe parties like the SACP, DA, EFF and yourselves will find each other? We have no choice.

Except going to the electorate with your proposals and letting them decide? Let’s say we emerge from the summit to say there must be new electoral reforms, and the governing party is refusing. The parties who agree can say, ‘We’ll include it in our manifestos for 2019 that if you vote for us within six months after we ascend to power we will change the electoral system so that we improve

accountability.’ In other words, we can take some of the resolutions and say to the government: ‘This is what we want to be changed now.’ If they refuse then we can take that to the voters.

We don’t have the luxury of time, do we? No. But it’s better that we use the energy that we now have of people saying our country is going down the drain, let us try and rescue it. In such a national convention the parties can come up with some suggestion as to how we can convince the international community that we agree that we erred but have found a way of turning the situation around and we are asking you to work with us. Now we rely on the ANC with its radical economic transformation.

What if the ANC refuses to participate? That would reinforce the notion that they put the interests of the ANC ahead of the interests of the people.

They’ve already said that, haven’t they? Yes, but we are saying the convention would be part of correcting this, of bringing them back to the people.

Meanwhile, you’ve thrown your weight behind the Freedom Movement? Yes. In principle, we support what they stand for: Zuma must go.

Are you playing the right strategic game by campaigning for Zuma to go? Remember, this campaign started long ago. And opposition parties were rewarded in the local government elections last year.

But if your campaign succeeds and Zuma is recalled, won’t you have improved the ANC’s chances of being re-elected in 2019? We can’t worry about that. We are dealing with Zuma who is messing the country up right now, which is affecting the livelihood of many. Today, South Africa has junk status. And all the reasons for this are linked to Zuma’s kind of leadership. So if the ANC were to remove Zuma now, the country would benefit.

Will they be rewarded in 2019 if they remove him? I’m not sure about that. I don’t think the confidence of South Africans is that good towards the ANC. I think South Africans have moved on. The best way to measure that was the local government elections.

So you subscribe to the theory that the longer Zuma remains, the more the ANC will be punished in 2019? There is no doubt about that. But there are urgent matters that need to be attended to.

Do you think the situation we’re in will be fixed overnight because Zuma has been removed? At least there will be hope for this country.