POWER CORRUPTS. Prolonged power corrupts debilitatingly. As the proverb goes: Nothing can destroy iron, only its own rust can. Africa provides plenty of proof. KANU (Kenya African National Union) in Kenya, TANU (Tanganyika African National Union, later rechristened as Chama Cha Mapinduzi) in Tanzania, and ZANU–PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) in Zimbabwe are examples of political parties that, despite having a glorious past in the national liberation struggles of their respective countries, lost their reputation and popularity later. In our own country, the Indian National Congress (INC), once nurtured by great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, suffered the same fate.
Now yet another party ─ the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa, which ended apartheid under the leadership of Nelson Mandela ─ has joined the list. After a historic victory hailed by the entire global community, Mandela became the country’s first black president in 1994. ANC commanded a parliamentary majority in six consecutive elections in the past 30 years. However, in the just-concluded elections, voters ended its majority rule. In the 400-member parliament, ANC’s tally dropped from 230 to 159 and its vote share fell dramatically to 40 per cent from 57 per cent in 2019. And, as has happened to the Narendra Modi-led BJP in India, it has been forced to seek the support of undependable allies with divergent ideologies to form a coalition government.
Cyril Ramaphosa, the incumbent president, will surely get re-elected. However, in the new Government of National Unity (GNU), ANC will, paradoxically, share power with the white-majority Democratic Alliance (DA), the country’s main opposition party. ANC will also be supported by the much smaller Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
Why did the ANC suffer this setback? Because prolonged power tainted and weakened it. Corruption, combined with the absence of a modernising vision and requisite implementation capabilities, led to poor governance. South Africa may be the continent’s strongest and most industrialised economy. Yet, its power crisis, with frequent load-shedding and blackouts, has defied a solution. An Indian diplomat in Pretoria told me, “Almost all the impressive infrastructure you see in South Africa was built during the White rule. The contribution of ANC governments thereafter hasn’t been much.”
Crime, including political violence, remains alarmingly high. Youth unemployment, mostly affecting the majority Black community (81.4 per cent of the country’s population) stands at a staggering 32 per cent. Nearly two-thirds of black South Africans live in poverty. In contrast, only 1 per cent of white South Africans (7.3 per cent of the population) are poor. The disparity in wealth and ownership of productive resources is stark. Whites own 72 per cent of agricultural land, and their domination over the financial sector and mineral business continues to be unassailable.
In short, the end of Apartheid did not result in the fulfilment of the aspirations of Black South Africans under black-majority rule. Result: large-scale voter apathy. Voter turnout in 1994 was 86 per cent. In 2024, it fell to 58 per cent. “A huge chunk of traditional Black supporters of the ANC simply did not come out to vote. ANC took its voters for granted, and has paid the price,” Kiru Naidoo, author, an ANC member and a prominent activist of the Indian community in Durban, told me.
Another factor has debilitated Mandela’s party. As has happened to the Congress in India, the ANC has suffered several splits due to internal power struggles. Jacob Zuma, Ramaphosa’s main rival and former South African president, was an ANC leader before he was expelled from the party over charges of corruption and fraud. (The controversial Indian business family, Gupta brothers, using its proximity to Zuma, was accused of state capture.) uMkhonto we Sizwe or MK Party, founded only six months ago by 82-year-old Zuma, performed impressively by winning 58 seats and 14 per cent vote share. It also unseated the ANC from power in KwaZulu-Natal, the country’s most important province. ANC could have formed a coalition with Zuma, but his condition was: “Replace Ramaphosa as president.” This was unacceptable to ANC.
“Ramaphosa is still the best choice for South Africa,” Ismail Vadi, an Indian-origin ANC leader and a former minister in a provincial government, whom I had met in Johannesburg, told me. “Ramaphosa has the maturity to bring a fractured nation together. But he has to introspect on why he lost the confidence of so many in the black community.”
Ramaphosa will face stiff opposition from two radical black-majority parties ─ Zuma’s MKP and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema, a firebrand former ANC Youth League leader. Both want the expropriation of white-owned land without compensation and the nationalisation of industries. DA is firmly opposed to these policies. Yet, neither ANC nor DA in the new government can ignore alienation and anger among Blacks caused by economic deprivation. Therefore, introspection, leading to moderation, dialogue and consensus-building, is needed by all parties for South Africa to avoid political instability and social turmoil and realise Mandela’s vision of a truly nonracial nation.
How did the Indian community vote and how might the verdict affect it? “Nearly 70 per cent of Indians voted for DA this time due to their fear of black domination,” Naidoo told me. “Indians suffered heavily in the race riots in July 2021, when Zuma’s supporters went on a rampage following his imprisonment for contempt of court.” Indians once firmly supported the ANC, but their political disempowerment in recent decades is a sad story. Prominent Indian leaders such as Ahmad Kathrada, Mac Maharaj, Jay Naidoo, Essop Pahad and Pravin Gordhan were the leading lights of the anti-Apartheid struggle. Some of them even became respected ministers in the cabinets of Mandela and his successors Thabo Mbeki, Zuma and Ramaphosa. Now the number of Indians in South African parliament has come down sharply.
Clearly, Indians too need soul-searching. Indians should make efforts to strengthen social, cultural and emotional ties with the majority black community ─ just as the latter needs to allay the fears and apprehensions of Indians, and recognise their enormous contribution to the making of modern South Africa.
The truth about modern South Africa is that it belongs equally to all its 61 million citizens, irrespective of their racial, tribal and religious identities. History itself has made Whites, “coloureds” (8.2 per cent of the country’s population) and Indians (3 per cent) as much of authentic South Africans as the indigenous majority black community. Furthermore, blacks themselves are not ethnically homogenous; they belong to different tribal and linguistic groups.
Economic empowerment of blacks is of course an urgent necessity. Nevertheless, black majoritarianism and radicalism are as harmful to South Africa as Hindu majoritarianism and radicalism are to India, and Muslim majoritarianism and radicalism are to Pakistan. Therefore, just as in India, the various social groups must learn to respect diversity while remaining committed to national unity and collective progress. The new coalition governments in South Africa and India have a responsibility to aid this process of reconciliation and integration.
Over a century ago, in a prescient speech delivered in Johannesburg on 18 May 1908, Mohandas Gandhi envisioned a harmonious destiny for multi-racial South Africa. “If we look into the future, is it not a heritage we have to leave to posterity, that all the different races commingle and produce a civilisation that perhaps the world has not yet seen?”
Endorsing this vision, my friend Kiru Naidoo said, “Since 1994, our society has never been as polarised as it is today. Nevertheless, I am sure South Africa will step back from the brink by showing the same sagacity and resilience it showed thirty years ago. For this, democratic politicians, judiciary, civil society activists and all other stakeholders have to work together.”
The writer was a close aide to India’s former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Source link : https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/south-africa-like-india-has-rejected-one-party-one-leader-model-9394322/lite/
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Publish date : 2024-06-15 08:52:07
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