Читать книгу New South African Review 2 - Paul Hoffman - Страница 11

Since 1994, critics have raised concerns about the lack of opposition to the ANC at a party political level, and the dangers inherent in a de facto one-party political system. In this volume, Neil Southern and Roger Southall survey the state of the Democratic Alliance (DA), arguing that the DA’s recent absorption of the Independent Democrats (ID) has solidified its position as official party of opposition, putting South Africa on the road to becoming a de facto two-party political system. The May 2011 local government election results would appear to confirm this, with one voter in four now voting for a non-ANC political grouping. The implosion of the Congress of the People (Cope), and the internal strife within the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), have facilitated the growth of the DA and other opposition groupings. Looking for a more left-leaning alternative, the authors argue that there is little possibility that a split will happen among partners of the ANC Alliance, but that efforts are underway outside the congress movement in the form of the Democratic Left Front (DLF), launched at the University of the Witwatersrand in January 2011. While Southern and Southall admit that the DLF is still an infant, they do not rule out the possibility of the emergence of a left opposition party in the future.

Devan Pillay supports the view that the ANC Alliance will not split, examining how the theory of the NDR has served to hold the three parties together in spite of several conflicts over the years of its existence. He argues that the theory of two stages of revolution has served the function of satisfying the interests of the different class forces that comprise the ANC-Alliance, and he claims that for as long as trade union members have something to gain from being part of the alliance, there is little chance of a split. However, this might, in his view, change with time. Pillay also sees potentials for new political challenges coming from the DLF, a network of activists, academics, NGOs and social movements united in their various struggles against capitalism, and beyond, but only if they are supported by Cosatu and its members.

It is important that the emergence and potentials of the DLF be assessed in the context of a longer trajectory of struggles of post-apartheid social movements, particularly in the light of earlier attempts at similar convergences in the form of the Social Movements Indaba (SMI) and Social Movements United (SMU) that were formed in the course of protests during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002 (Gibson, 2006; McKinley and Naidoo, 2004). In doing this, it would be important to reflect on the various political forms that characterised the organisations and movements composing the SMI and SMU and the relationship of different activists and groups to the question of electoral politics. While for some activists the DLF might hold the potential of becoming a political party worthy of the status of ‘official opposition’, it is also viewed by some of its members as holding the potential for ways of doing politics beyond the ballot box and the party.

But while much attention has focused on contestation amongst political parties, little has been said about those who for one or other reason do not vote. Close analysis of voting patterns shows that large numbers of South Africans choose not to exercise their democratic right to vote. Commenting on the turnout in the 2009 national election, Schulz-Herzenberg noted (2009: 25–6): ‘Despite the growth in the eligible voting population and increases in registration figures, the number of valid votes cast actually decreased by over 3.9 million between the 1994 and 2004 elections. In the 2009 elections, however, the decline in voter turnout halted and increased very slightly from 76.7 per cent in 2004 to 77.3 per cent in 2009. Actual votes cast also increased by approximately 2.1 million … While turnout of registered voters remained relatively high at seventy-seven per cent, turnout as a proportion of the voting age population (VAP) was less impressive at about sixty per cent or less in the past two elections. When these figures are considered against the overall population growth in the VAP, it appears that there are an increasing number of eligible voters who do not for some or other reason cast a vote at election time.’

While the 2011 local government elections have recorded an increase, from 2006, in voter turnout, it is still important to ask why such large numbers of the eligible population do not participate in elections.

The act of voting has come to be seen by many as the granting of greater power and authority to a few to enrich themselves and those close to them.

Those who are on the top there, their children are fed, they get everything smooth in life, but we on the ground, we have to suffer, I don’t know until when. But soon they are going to the elections. So you’ll see cars running around, pamphlets will be put all over the place, so that we must just go and vote for them, so they can win again. After that, they’ll just dump us again. Empty promises since 1994. I was turning sixty recently, but nothing has been done since 1994. I haven’t seen anything being done.’ (Female pensioner, Focus Group Discussion, Orange Farm Water Crisis Committee, 26 September 2007)

Politics, seen in its narrowest sense as the marking of an ‘X’ on a ballot every five years, has come to be viewed by some as the playground of elites and not as a site through which ordinary citizens gain voice. While their choice not to vote may be portrayed, as has often been done, as reflective of a general apathy in society towards issues of government, it could also be taken as a sign of a refusal of a particular way of doing politics in the world. While many South Africans continue to view the ballot box as a means for exercising their voice in politics, for others it has come to represent the failures of traditional politics and politicians.