Raymond Suttner, Polity
Political analyst Steven Friedman correctly concludes (in
Business Day, 9 May 2014) that the ANC may not face electoral defeat for the
foreseeable future, though he, uncharacteristically, treats this as everything
that may be entailed in the notion of politics. ‘What happens inside the
African National Congress (ANC) remains more important to our political future
than what happens outside it.’ If we
want a sense of where our politics is headed, he says, ‘we need to look at the
tensions within the ANC rather than the challenges it faces from outside.’
‘Outside’, here, refers to other electoral parties, not the
whole of the ‘outside’. It is important to define our understanding of politics
and its scope. It may well be that some who voted ANC will be on the streets
protesting today or in the near future. It is reported, for example, that the
ANC scored 60% of the vote in the Bekkersdal hotspot.
Sections of the population are likely to continue to claim
political space beyond electoralism, in a variety of ways. This is because ANC failure to honour
constitutional obligations is unlikely to be remedied quickly. Indeed the organisation may be emboldened to
do less following its convincing victory.
At a very patent and obvious level we have seen in the last
few years that parliament has failed to hold the state to account when it has
committed one or other action that has caused loss of life, involved widespread
corruption and other abuse. The ruling party, whatever may be said in its
constitution, has ‘another life’, organised around various hierarchies, bound
together through ties of patronage.
The support that President Jacob Zuma enjoys is linked to
benefits that others derive and these bind still other people at various levels
through benefits such as appointments or being awarded contracts where some
person at a higher level in the hierarchy has a decisive say in their disposal.
The dynamics of patronage may comprise much tighter bonds
than that which bind people to the organisation itself or the constitution of
the ANC or that of the country. Having
become a member one has expectations of reward, taking various forms that have
little to do with the political goals with which the ANC purports to associate
itself.
This is evident, for example, in the way the eThekwini
municipality operates with corrupt awards of housing tenders and preferential
provision of houses to those who hold ANC membership cards. The card is an entry ticket to one or other
benefit, but having entered, how high one goes in the hierarchy of
relationships will determine what else is gained. The municipality operates with impunity, even
defying court orders and there is no reason to believe that this will be
brought to an end. This is one
indication why politics beyond the ANC is the politics that may well matter
most to those who are without power.
During the election campaign court actions were under way to
secure access to school textbooks. Such
action to secure constitutional rights was not at the instance of elected
representatives, nor resulting from parliamentary censure or action by cabinet.
In fact government has resisted this litigation.
It is evident that the ANC sets few limits on malperformance
caused by contempt for constitutional duties, manifested in various ways. The place where politics ‘happens’, through
the vote, is in fact far removed from the process where these problems may
sometimes be resolved, whether in the streets or the courts or other places,
sometimes in favour of those under attack, sometimes not.
This is not only applicable to the ruling party, for while
the Democratic Alliance and other parties have litigated, in general they have not
done so in relation to local level corruption and patronage, or failure to meet
obligations to provide basic needs.
The citizen, who seeks a remedy for violent attacks by the
state, as in the Marikana massacre, cannot rely on the ANC, at any level, nor
its allies. They have shown indifference to the killings and have, through
government, taken steps to impede the Farlam Commission’s quest to establish
the truth.
We need to recognise that, if ‘where our politics is headed’ depends on
tensions within the ANC, it cannot lead to an emancipatory politics. Even if President Jacob Zuma were removed,
whoever replaces him operates within relationships and structures that have
enabled abuse to become well established.
It is also important to recognise that those who pursue an
emancipatory politics, additional to or beyond electoralism, operate against
heavy odds. One of the few organisations
that have advanced a popular politics, Abahlali baseMjondolo, the shack dwellers’
movement, has had to face continued state repression.
