Call for political maturity
KWAZULU-Natal ANC leaders have to exercise political maturity and not engage in public mudslinging that could lead to violence, experts say.
Following the Pietermaritzburg High Court decision to nullify the November 2015 provincial elective conference yesterday, politics professor at Rhodes University, Richard Pithouse, said the fear of violence was rational considering the history of political killings in the province.
Also a social justice activist, Pithouse said he had already received messages from politically active people expressing such fears.
“Although there are people in the ANC who have a conscience about the political violence, judging from the lack of proper investigations and honest discussions, there didn’t seem to be a willingness to face up to it.
“Pretending there are external, mysterious forces responsible for the violence is a denial of any kind of responsibility,” he said.
Gareth Newham, the head of the Justice and Violence Prevention programme at the Institute for Security Studies, said that as the judgment changed the legitimacy of the provincial executive, it could result in some using violence to settle political scores.
Destabilise
He said violence was not necessarily inevitable but could be used to destabilise the opposite side.
“It’s worrying because the province has had a large number of political killings, but whether there is violence or not depends on the leadership on either side to call on their followers to abide by the court’s decision.
“They could help mitigate violence by actively doing what they can to keep tempers down and not playing the blame game,” said Newham.
Right now, all eyes would be on the leaders of the factions, who – Newham believes – should be held responsible for ensuring their factions adhere to the judgment and not undermine the rule of law.
Political analyst Dr Bheki Mngomezulu agreed, saying that a show of political maturity would probably stop tensions from flaring.
“But if they go to the public and handle this in a callous manner, once one person is killed it will escalate.”
If violence was not averted now, it would escalate in the run-up to the national elective conference in December.
With the parties to the court case being from opposing factions who supported different candidates to succeed President Jacob Zuma as ANC president, the stakes were high and the situation needed to be handled with caution, said Mngomezulu.
AVERY popular Swahili proverb warns us that when elephants jostle, what gets hurt is the grass.
There are apparently many versions of this proverb in other African languages, but they all have the same essential message – the utter hopelessness and powerlessness felt in the midst of larger forces.
This often manifests itself in situations in which leaders become involved in disputes which end up hurting innocent and powerless people.
Nowhere is this better illustrated in South Africa than in the bitter factional battles being fought out for leadership in the ruling ANC nationally as well as in the turbulent power struggles taking place in KwaZulu-Natal.
With barely three months to go before the ANC’s national elective conference in December, the battle lines have been clearly drawn.
The campaigns have already been mired in smear scandals, death threats and allegations of interference by state security institutions as well as members of the murky underworld.
In KZN – the epicentre of political violence for many years – the situation is even worse.
Recent weeks have seen a troubling upsurge in politicallyinspired violence, the most recent casualty being Sindiso Magaqa, a former ANC Youth League secretary-general.
He was the 11th person to be killed in political violence in the province just this year.
And with yesterday’s dramatic high court ruling rendering the party’s 2015 provincial elective conference unlawful and invalid, the strains and tensions may have been exacerbated.
Members of the provincial executive committee (PEC) intend taking the case on appeal, which is their legal right, and that’s where the matter should rest until a higher court makes a ruling.
It is at times like these that our leaders should follow the example set by the founding fathers of the liberation movement who, even though they took an unwavering and principled stand against injustice and oppression, consistently preached the gospel of peace and political tolerance among all sections of the community.
If we are to be a true democracy, we cannot allow a climate of fear, intimidation and political thuggery to prevail on our political terrain.
South Africans need to recognise that one of the central tenets of a liberal democracy is a willingness to accept the individual rights and freedoms of all people, even those whose views we may not share.
This is a time for cool heads to prevail so that our leaders can deliberate rationally to deliver peace, stability and prosperity to our land.
If there are elections to be held, they must always be free and fair.
Polls should be open contests in which candidates can compete in democratic debates on issues that affect the nation.
Leaders need to realise that their role is to serve the people they purport to represent, not their own selfish and personal interests.
If we can honour and live by the values and principles handed down to us by leaders such as Chief Albert Luthuli, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, among others, people need not fear being trampled on when elephants jostle.