ANC`s loss of control heralds a new national conversation

Source: Business Day, 06/11/2015

IT IS not quite the Arab Spring, but SA`s season of the hashtag has
turned up the heat. Led by the #FeesMustFall campaign, with noteworthy
developments such as the #AntiCorruptionMarch and #EFFMarch, the
turbulent period of change announced by the massacre at Marikana
continues to unfold. Where it is headed is unclear.


What is certain is that for the first time since the end of apartheid,
the African National Congress (ANC) has lost control of South African
politics. Forces beyond the governing party`s grip have taken to the
streets, from Parliament to Sandton to the Union Buildings. More than
disturbing the ANC`s peace, they have changed the national
conversation.


This is mostly a welcome development that bodes well for our future,
provided the country does not surrender to demagoguery. When tens of
thousands of students took to the streets last month to demand that
fees must fall, the ANC`s initial response was flat-footed and tone
deaf, with police firing stun grenades and tear gas at overwhelmingly
peaceful students.


In September, various civil society organisations united against
corruption. Their marches, which drew thousands, pointed the finger of
blame squarely at the government headed by Jacob Zuma. Last week,
Julius Malema`s siren song of racial radicalism mobilised tens of
thousands in the opening salvo of next year`s local government
election campaign.


The events have blown away the ANC`s hubristic belief that it is the
"leader of society". It is now simply another governing party
presiding over a political and social crisis. To be fair, it is not
the only one. The grinding global economic crisis is shaking up
political arrangements around the world. That will be cold comfort for
Zuma.


How did we get here? In 1994, the ANC did lead the country — though it
was not the only voice grappling with the question of how to build a
nonracial society. Establishing constitutionalism, the rule of law, a
common national identity and social cohesion defined much of our
national journey in the first years of democracy.


The new government built democratic institutions, extended the social
wage for the poor and created space for black people to advance as
state officials, independent traders and professionals.


As economic development began to take place, a growing segment of
society began to live and work outside the old racial boundaries. But
this deracialised middle class floats on the sea of poverty and
inequality that characterises the lives of most black South Africans.


Social cohesion can neither happen when poverty and
inequality are widespread, nor is it possible to build a nonracial
society when the victims of hunger, disease, unemployment and violence
remain overwhelmingly black. According to Statistics SA, nearly 70% of
black youths under the age of 35 have no work. The official
unemployment rate rose from 22% in 1994 to 25% last year.


The data show a shift to skilled employment since 1994 and a decline
in employment for occupations categorised as semi-and low-skilled.
Most black youths under the age of 35 have not been formally trained
in any occupational skill, and the economy is not creating jobs that
can absorb large numbers of workers.


Education and jobs go together. It is the ANC`s inability to resolve
this dilemma that has led the party to its crisis.


Instead of leading, and making the tough decisions to which it
sometimes alludes, the party has taken more and more to talking to
itself and reminiscing about its past. In the process, it has diverged
from its nonracial democratic origins. The ANC has become politically
weaker, is riddled with factions and is increasingly corrupt. The
executive is actively weakening institutions of accountability and
presiding over a growing number of failing public institutions. As the
ANC`s star fades, so does the significance of the South African
Communist Party, whose radicalism seems to have been expropriated by
the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).


If one considers how the ANC has handled student protests and vocal
challenges from other parties in Parliament, it is apparent that the
governing party has an obsession with authority. But it confuses
political authority with authority by decree — the idea that South
Africans should do as the ANC says simply because it holds power. This
belongs more to the era of Louis XIV ("I am the state") than a
21st-century democracy — unless one`s role models are Vladimir Putin
and Xi Jinping.


Anecdotal evidence suggests that the ANC is fast losing legitimacy. A
new generation is making its mark on politics. How this generation
reimagines SA will determine our future. The protesting students have
forced SA to confront an important and difficult discussion — that
there can be no future that does not recognise history.


This is the context for understanding #RhodesMustFall. It was a
poignant reminder that black South Africans will not forget the past,
nor will they settle for the status quo when they demand university
education that is accessible to all.


#FeesMustFall had no dominant political orientation. It united youth
of all colours and backgrounds around an issue of social justice
rooted in history. Students at historically black universities brought
their debt, their family hardships and their poor living and studying
conditions into the national spotlight. At historically privileged
universities, white students were forced to listen, to confront
inherited inequality, and to decide if they would act in solidarity
with their fellow students. Many did.


Markus Trengrove, a University of Cape Town student who was among
those arrested in a clash with police outside Parliament, writes on
his Twitter profile: "I benefited from the injustice. Although I did
not choose it, my race, my gender and language have allowed me to
inherit certain privileges. The right response is no longer to bury my
head in shame. The right response is not to try and guard these
privileges. The right reaction is to admit that there is enormous
injustice, but that my privilege has put me in a good position to
remedy it."


The students won what they were strong enough to win. But it is no
longer business as usual at campuses, and this will continue to have
national repercussions.


Meanwhile, EFF leader, Malema, brought Sandton to a standstill last
week with a gathering of tens of thousands.


A skilled demagogue, Malema delivered a chilling message to "whites"
that consciously plays on the justified anger of millions of black
South Africans. His party`s demands, from JSE-listed companies giving
51% of their shares to workers, to minimum wages in various sectors —
make for good electioneering in a weak economy.


SA once again confronts a crossroads. It has to negotiate a road
between demagogy and a nonracial future in which historic injustice
must be attended to.


This time, there is no party of liberation to provide leadership.
South Africans will have to look to themselves.