Paul KeenanVoters have delivered a new political landscape, writes Paul Keenan
It speaks loudly of the Western mind-set when African nations gain positions in the nightly news cycle only when violence and bloodletting lie at the heart of seismic events on that continent.
Where dramatic political shifts in this hemisphere are sufficient to receive reportage and commentary of equal measure to violent outrages, it seems that in the case of the African continent, only the latter category is enough to bump its countries up the scheduling list.
Thus, Ethiopia requires running battles with security forces to draw the international media towards its political malaise. Similarly, squabbles between political rivals in the Democratic Republic of Congo have caused barely a ripple on international newswires even though the legislative process is threatened by a sitting president unwilling to obey the constitution and step aside after the completion of his second term (readers of The Irish Catholic have a head start on most here). And only through the violent suppression of anti-government demonstrations has Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe resurfaced for the media, despite a despotic tenure worthy of constant vigilance.
Current affairs
Perhaps there is something of a post-colonial attitude at play in seeing current affairs in Africa only through the prism of violence. What else serves to explain, for example, the remarkable political shift that played out in South Africa this month, an historic moment in that nation’s history with major implications for forthcoming general elections, but of which most western observers remain only partially aware, if at all.
Be in no doubt, the outcome of the recent municipal elections in South Africa are worthy of note in signposting the country’s journey from apartheid towards a future envisioned by the towering form of the late Nelson Mandela.
The import of the results are best enunciated by the South African Bishops’ Conference, which felt compelled to issue a pastoral statement on August 22 – as legislators prepared to gather in parliament for their first meeting since the August 3 polling.
Hailing the “great common one-nation exercise of creating our future” that was the municipal polling, the bishops stated: “These peaceful elections augur well for the future stability of our political system. The election result may herald in a new phase in the history of our democracy involving coalition government, realistic opposition politics and greater responsibility in the exercise of power.”
Given the results, explained here below, the prelates add a cautionary note: “Coalitions can be enrichment in that they bring together the fruits of many minds when exercised with equality and reciprocity. Wrongly pursued coalitions can lead to endless wrangling, polarisation and collapse of governance.”
Some dry facts and numbers paint the backdrop against which the South African hierarchy formulated its message. (For the record, the pastoral was signed by Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria, a native of Co. Tipperary.)
In the municipal elections, five main players took to the campaign trail to do battle for control of regional and city councils across nine provinces.
The dominant party the African National Congress (ANC) thus faced off against the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the Inkhata Freedom Party (IFP).
That the ANC had something of an uphill battle to fight against charges of misgovernment and corruption was clear from the outset of campaigning, not least via the much publicised shenanigans around Mr Zuma and the lavish spend on his home at the expense of the public purse.
However, nothing could have prepared observers for what the ballot box was to unleash.
Having led political life in the nation since the fall of apartheid in 1994, the ANC was dealt nothing short of a hammer blow in all but one province and similarly across the major cities. Polling losses from -9% (Mpumalanga province) to -22.1% (North West province), the party could only claim a gain in Mr Zuma’s homeland of KwaZulu-Natal (+4.6%). Likewise, the nation’s three capitals – Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial) – fell, while Durban (executive) in KwaZulu-Natal was held by virtue of Mr Zuma’s support base there.
The final shock came on August 22 with news that the nation’s largest city, Johannesburg, had also been swept from the ANC’s grip (and into the control of the DA’s Herman Mashaba who spoke to popular sentiment by dramatically announcing “corruption is declared public enemy No.1 in this city”).
This, then, was the bullet-point result; the results in many districts remain hung, necessitating the creation of coalitions and hence the bishops’ cautionary addendum to their pastoral.
However, the will of the people has been loudly – and peacefully – declared, and the comfortable certainties of the party of Nelson Mandela usurped.
The man who went from prisoner to president would no doubt be pleased by the result.
Nelson Mandela, who led his country for just one term (by choice and powerful example to leaders everywhere) was no Jacob Zuma, and the South African people have demonstrated that there are no sacred cows in seeking the future he envisioned for all, and not just for another African leader enriching himself as his people go hungry.
As the bishops reminded those about to assume power in the municipalities: “Our country faces huge problems of social trauma; unemployment, inequality, racism, violence, drugs abuse and family breakdown.”
What the new legislators at a purely local level can do on this range of problematic issues remains to be seen.
However, with one eye to the general elections of 2019, they will try.
Beyond shallow political aspirations, however, the new power brokers cannot but be aware now of the electorate’s willingness to unseat underperformers, even those with powerful historic credentials.
As the Catholic bishops best expressed it: “In this election our people have spoken, they demand change; they expect service and are tired of corruption, maladministration and being ignored. God will be with us if we create a future based on respect for human dignity. Let this election be a moment of new beginning.”