An alliance of forces is needed to defend democratic life
The decline of the ANC bears a relation to a broader deterioration in democratic life and respect for constitutionalism. It is important not to see the remedy as simply voting the ANC out of power but also entailing a broad alliance of forces, including popular forces and business, in defending and sustaining democratic life under the Constitution.
It has been clear for some time that the ANC is undergoing a crisis. It first became very clear in elections for local government in 2016 when the organisation lost control of three significant metros. This trend was partially bucked in the national elections of 2019 when the ANC retained a national majority.
But the 2021 local government elections again confirmed the ANC’s decline, for the first time losing a majority on a national level. It is important, however, to address the problem of the ANC’s current practices and existence within the context of the crisis of SA democracy.
The fate of the ANC and that of democratic life and constitutionalism are different, but there are also linkages between the two. The failure of the ANC to meet the aspirations of the majority has been accompanied by lack of confidence displayed in the electoral alternatives.
On the one hand, our concern needs to be not only with the fate of the organisation that led the liberation Struggle, not to rescue it at all costs nor to ensure that it goes into the dustbin of history.
The fate of democracy and constitutionalism in South Africa converges with the crisis of the ANC insofar as we restrict ourselves to the broader crisis of electoral democracy. The ANC is in a liminal state, half living and possibly en route to dying. The problem for wider society is that its ways of acting to preserve its power and continued existence are also undermining the value of democracy and constitutionalism.
It is important that we address this not only by focusing on finding an alternative political party to defeat the ANC in elections, but also by looking for other ways of securing democratic life and the empowering elements of the Constitution.
Collusion of media
Media is colluding in the depoliticisation of politics by its failure to expose the emptiness of the various alternatives, the absence of vision and actual ideological contestation, that once used to be the lifeblood of the ANC and its allies.
Our focus needs to be on what organisational forms can be developed to augment electoral politics. The vote was an important gain in the struggle for democracy, among other reasons because it refers to universal adult franchise in a country where black men and women were referred to as “boys” and “girls”. Its being universal is also emancipatory in a history where rights were the prerogative of the few.
Augmenting the vote
But it is important that we augment the vote or representative democracy with other sources of power. We need an alliance of forces that can bring to bear pressure that can ensure that institutional life is directed towards the bettering of the conditions of all the people of South Africa.
This grouping may overlap with some who are elected to Parliament and other institutions, but it can also act as a force outside of these institutions.
The United Democratic Front cannot be reborn. It is a different time and conditions are very different, and those who may be attracted to a new alliance may go beyond those drawn into the Struggle of the 1980s.
There are a very small number of popular organisations, but they need to be a core element of such an alliance.
The popular character of the labour movement needs to be an important part of such forces.
There are many professional bodies that have stood for constitutionalism and democracy, and done their best to stand by and assist the poor and marginalised. These include the legal and medical professions, teachers, academics and others. These are among the key resources in any rebuilding project.
Faith-based organisations and communities have historically played a crucial role in defending the poor and fighting for liberation with empowering teachings. They need to be encouraged to enhance the liberatory vision that is now endangered.
I have previously referred to the importance of business, big and small. Business played an important role in bringing down Jacob Zuma. But it also constitutes a force that has sustainable power and an interest in stability, constitutional rule and nonviolence.
Apart from this, business is a key factor in addressing the scourge of unemployment.
None of these, and other categories that I may not have mentioned, is monolithic. But all who want to recover democracy and defend constitutionalism must be incorporated.
A final resource that we need to find a way of harnessing into the democratic recovery process is the people we see on a daily basis, acting out common acts of human kindness.
The kindness and solidarity have taken a highly organised form in Gift of the Givers, which has, in many respects, stepped in to fill gaps of government and the state, and is now being justifiably recognised.
Everything said about the way forward is necessarily tentative, despite the crisis that confronts us. This is merely a contribution towards what needs to be a broad discussion involving people from all walks of life and diverse communities.