Tracy Dove: South Africa and the Growing Pains of Post-Apartheid Politics
[Tracy Dove, editor of The Russia News Service, is a Professor of History and the Department Chair of International Relations at the University of New York in Prague.]
It is an unfortunate trend in media reporting on Africa that unless the news is unmistakably bad there isn't much of a chance that a positive story will make any headlines. There is, however, an important political event going on in South Africa, where only 14 years ago the simplicity and ugliness of Apartheid kept the country on the verge of civil war and in the minds of most western observers. When Apartheid finally crumbled, Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) somehow pulled the country together, and a period of peaceful rehabilitation set in, and South Africa became a success story of reconciliation and not one of vindication and retribution which was predicted by more pessimistic Africa watchers. This weekend the ANC leadership conference will test the political capital accumulated during this period, for the party's cohesion is being threatened with a political struggle that could tear it apart- and for all the wrong reasons.
South Africa has not had an easy post-Apartheid decade- although things could have gone far worse. The ANC has held a virtual monopoly on political power in the country since Mandela walked out of a 28-year stint in prison and into the executive mansion. His sway over all South Africans was immeasurable, and although he tried to keep "party-mindedness" in the forefront, the ANC remained in second place to his leadership skills. The political atmosphere in the country has soured considerably since Mandela retired, and now that the current president- Thabo Mbeki- is close to the end of his last allowable term in office, populist jingoism and threats of a color war may threaten the country's reputation of one of the few African success stories in the past 20 years.
Jacob Zuma is the man whose popularity may make him the next president of South Africa. He is seen as a people's candidate and a force for change- distancing himself from the centrist policies pursued by the current president, Mbeki. But unfortunately political issues are not at the center of this leadership conference but personality, populism and scandal are distracting South Africans from the issues. Zuma is a controversial character- he has been charged with rape- of which he was acquitted- and corruption in arms deals- which stem back to his days as intelligence chief on the government. He comes from the Zulu tribe and is widely respected by that section of black South Africa, and he is using his allies to undermine the ANC's unity and cast a new direction. In a one-party state- is that such a bad thing?
Looking back on the ANC's roots we can see that the party suffered from similar disruptions before. Once the Afrikaaner National Party began institutionalizing racist policies after 1948, the ANC forged itself as a unity party and called for all South Africans- white, colored and black- to come together for the good of the country. While the ideals of the party's platform can be considered noble for the time, a considerable section of the ANC saw racial separation as a good thing and appealed for a more radical course to appeal to South Africa's disenfranchised blacks. In 1955, the ANC made the last of its concerted policies to unite the country when it announced its Freedom Charter- which, again, called for South Africans of all races to stand for equal rights. The frustration felt by the Africa-faction was too much for the ANC to handle, and in 1959 the split became final: the radical forces united to become the Pan-African Congress, headed by Robert Sobukwe, and this is where Zuma formed his own political agenda.
The current tensions at the ANC conference in Johannesburg do not represent uncharted territory, but the shallow appeals of populism betray the real issues that are confronting South Africans today- such as continued poverty and an exploding rate of AIDS infections. The loftier goals of achieving racial justification which kept both the ANC and PAC going strong during the Apartheid years has all but vanished, and the political maturity that was achieved during the left-centrist years of Mandela-Mbeki is being compromised by simplistic propaganda.
South Africa is still a long way from the political and racial cooperation it strives for, and the country definitely needs to focus on issues, and not personalities. If the ANC is to split into factions or even new political parties, then let it happen as part of the organic process of creating political plurality. Zuma represents angry blood, but he has been trying to calm the fears of business leaders and the moderate voters who see dark clouds forming over the country's festering ghettos. Mbeki may represent moderation, but if Zuma is elected as the ANC's leader, then it will be a clear sign that at least some of South Africa has outgrown him and the ANC's caretaker role of the post-Apartheid years. Let's hope that Zuma knows how to use the power he now wields in South Africa.
Read entire article at Naked Historian at the website of US Politics Today
It is an unfortunate trend in media reporting on Africa that unless the news is unmistakably bad there isn't much of a chance that a positive story will make any headlines. There is, however, an important political event going on in South Africa, where only 14 years ago the simplicity and ugliness of Apartheid kept the country on the verge of civil war and in the minds of most western observers. When Apartheid finally crumbled, Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) somehow pulled the country together, and a period of peaceful rehabilitation set in, and South Africa became a success story of reconciliation and not one of vindication and retribution which was predicted by more pessimistic Africa watchers. This weekend the ANC leadership conference will test the political capital accumulated during this period, for the party's cohesion is being threatened with a political struggle that could tear it apart- and for all the wrong reasons.
South Africa has not had an easy post-Apartheid decade- although things could have gone far worse. The ANC has held a virtual monopoly on political power in the country since Mandela walked out of a 28-year stint in prison and into the executive mansion. His sway over all South Africans was immeasurable, and although he tried to keep "party-mindedness" in the forefront, the ANC remained in second place to his leadership skills. The political atmosphere in the country has soured considerably since Mandela retired, and now that the current president- Thabo Mbeki- is close to the end of his last allowable term in office, populist jingoism and threats of a color war may threaten the country's reputation of one of the few African success stories in the past 20 years.
Jacob Zuma is the man whose popularity may make him the next president of South Africa. He is seen as a people's candidate and a force for change- distancing himself from the centrist policies pursued by the current president, Mbeki. But unfortunately political issues are not at the center of this leadership conference but personality, populism and scandal are distracting South Africans from the issues. Zuma is a controversial character- he has been charged with rape- of which he was acquitted- and corruption in arms deals- which stem back to his days as intelligence chief on the government. He comes from the Zulu tribe and is widely respected by that section of black South Africa, and he is using his allies to undermine the ANC's unity and cast a new direction. In a one-party state- is that such a bad thing?
Looking back on the ANC's roots we can see that the party suffered from similar disruptions before. Once the Afrikaaner National Party began institutionalizing racist policies after 1948, the ANC forged itself as a unity party and called for all South Africans- white, colored and black- to come together for the good of the country. While the ideals of the party's platform can be considered noble for the time, a considerable section of the ANC saw racial separation as a good thing and appealed for a more radical course to appeal to South Africa's disenfranchised blacks. In 1955, the ANC made the last of its concerted policies to unite the country when it announced its Freedom Charter- which, again, called for South Africans of all races to stand for equal rights. The frustration felt by the Africa-faction was too much for the ANC to handle, and in 1959 the split became final: the radical forces united to become the Pan-African Congress, headed by Robert Sobukwe, and this is where Zuma formed his own political agenda.
The current tensions at the ANC conference in Johannesburg do not represent uncharted territory, but the shallow appeals of populism betray the real issues that are confronting South Africans today- such as continued poverty and an exploding rate of AIDS infections. The loftier goals of achieving racial justification which kept both the ANC and PAC going strong during the Apartheid years has all but vanished, and the political maturity that was achieved during the left-centrist years of Mandela-Mbeki is being compromised by simplistic propaganda.
South Africa is still a long way from the political and racial cooperation it strives for, and the country definitely needs to focus on issues, and not personalities. If the ANC is to split into factions or even new political parties, then let it happen as part of the organic process of creating political plurality. Zuma represents angry blood, but he has been trying to calm the fears of business leaders and the moderate voters who see dark clouds forming over the country's festering ghettos. Mbeki may represent moderation, but if Zuma is elected as the ANC's leader, then it will be a clear sign that at least some of South Africa has outgrown him and the ANC's caretaker role of the post-Apartheid years. Let's hope that Zuma knows how to use the power he now wields in South Africa.