Democracy Adrift

South Africa: Democracy Adrift

South Africa would not pass the widely cited benchmark that two changes in government should take place at the polls before a country can securely be declared a democracy. There is much to be said about this benchmark, as it implies that a country should have free and fair elections and a state machinery that permits a transfer of power and then serves the newly elected government.

Since 1994, South Africa has been dominated by one party, the African National Congress (ANC), and through cadre deployment this party has inserted its supporters into the civil service and state-owned enterprises. The prevalence of cadre deployment raises questions about whether the civil service would serve a different government.

The ANC majority has eroded since 1994, and in the last election in 2019 was at 57.5 percent, down from 62.12 percent five years earlier. As much as democracy is about free and fair elections, which South Africa has consistently enjoyed since 1994, there are other aspects. 

It is also about respect for minority positions, ensuring the freedom of speech, accountability and delivery by the state, and more. The country mostly performs well on freedom of speech, but very poorly on accountability and delivery by the state. Judicial processes can often work to improve accountability, but even then government failure is so great that judges cannot hope to turn the country around.

As the ANC’s electoral margin drops, the economy falters, and unemployment rises, there is likely to be an erosion of democratic standards. The ruling party is likely to increasingly try and expand the state, to gain votes and ensure greater control. And in its desperation to remain in power, elections may not always be as free and fair as they have been in the past.

Cadre deployment

The deployment of cadres appointed for their party membership rather than efficiency and technical expertise has been a problem since the ANC came to power. In the US there is a vast list of political appointments to the civil service that the President is permitted to make, but in many cases these people do have expertise. In South Africa the problem with cadre deployment has been its sheer scale. That has led to the favouring of party over country and a civil service that is not independent of political and business interests.

The past two years have shown growing signs of South Africa’s democratic drift. In the Covid-19 pandemic crisis the ANC revealed its deeper instinct to control. The initial lockdown measures imposed in March last year went well beyond what was required to maintain social distancing, and the government had to back down on its most draconian restrictions.

Despite its power, there has been minimal oversight by Parliament of the ominously named National Coronavirus Command Council, which oversees pandemic regulations. It is part of the Cabinet, and its decision-making process is shrouded in secrecy, despite its enormous powers to restrict businesses and movement. South Africa is not alone in having democratic processes usurped by executive branches to stem the spread of Covid-19. Even though some measures may have been justified, greater democratic oversight should have been required. Opposition parties around the world have failed to pose the right questions.

Further restrictions

The pandemic has been used to justify further restrictions. A decision by the Independent Electoral Commission to delay local government elections from October this year to February is also a sign that democracy is adrift. The Constitutional Court could decide soon on the legality of the delay. While elections have been delayed in a number of countries due to the pandemic, there are also a large number of polls that have gone ahead in the face of lockdowns. Surely, plans can be made to ensure social distancing in voter queues. In October the case load will be well down on the third wave peak, and might be far higher in February next year.

Which party the delay might favour is debatable, but the ANC might want a bit of an economic up-tick ahead of the polls.  The real risk to democracy is that a delay will create a precedent for further delays. After all, come February next year the pandemic might have gained strength with a new variant, and thus a further case might be made to delay the local government elections again.

Municipalities are in a pitiful state across the country, which in itself shows a democratic deficit. Only around ten percent of the country’s 257 municipalities achieve clean audits from the Auditor General, who has the task of checking all government spending. The failure of municipal governments to adequately deliver services is due to the failure of accountability and has to amount to a democratic betrayal. 

Sizable majorities

Even through the ANC betrays its electorate through failures to deliver, the party has still won elections with sizeable majorities. This is a cause of the low level of accountability inherent in one-party dominant systems. If the electorate do not want to offer mass support to opposition parties, so be it, but then they do have to live with lack of accountability in one-party dominant systems.

In South Africa, those with connections to the ruling party, big business, and unions get a closer hearing in government than the rest. That is not unusual and lobbyists are often the plague of democratic systems.

The National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac, is at first glance an institution that is part of the country’s democratic fabric. After all, it brings together business, labour, community groups, and government for “social dialogue” on the big economic issues of the day. Little is heard from community groups.

The very idea of having a special chamber in which business and labour have the ear of government on important issues is undemocratic.  It shows a tendency more towards corporatism, the control of the state by powerful interest groups. And Nedlac certainly has not addressed the big issue of unemployment, as none of the players want to upset the practice of setting minimum wages.  Nedlac affords government, big business and the unions the opportunity to do deals out of public view. This has meant that business has been brought into the fold. It means that it rarely opposes government in public, fearing that it will not be listened to in private. That is why business in South Africa is largely timid and ineffectual in halting government’s path to economic disaster.

As the deficit widens, public debt increases, and ANC ambitions grow, the government is on the lookout for more revenue, and intent on encroaching on property rights. A National Health Insurance scheme, a state pharmaceutical company, and a state bank all mean eroding the position of the middle class, rather than helping it grow. Talk of prescribed assets and Expropriation without Compensation remains on the agenda.

Heavy tax demands and encroachments on property rights are bound to undermine the position of the middle class. It is the growth of an independent middle class that has done much to strengthen democracies around the world.

https://dailyfriend.co.za/2021/09/01/democracy-adrift/