Democracy discussion = conversation about left-wing opposition

Political analysts Eusebius McKaiser and Adam Habib and political activist Mike van Graan discussed the topic “Does Democracy Work?” at the Franschoek Literary Festival on Sunday, 18 May, chaired by author, Peter Harris.

Harris kicked off by asking van Graan why he had recently written a Thought Leader article in the Mail & Guardian about why he was voting EFF in the elections. Van Graan responded that the “important constituency of young people need a voice in parliament”, explaining that many of the youth in South Africa are unemployed, frustrated and that they “express their democratic rights on the street”.

Van Graan added that the ANC often pulled the race card when corruption allegations were made by opposition parties and you can’t accuse the EFF of being “racist or anti-transformation” he said.

Adam Habib said that he believed people only voted EFF because “they want to send a message to the ANC” that they are unhappy with the ruling party, not because they are familiar with and support the EFF’s policies per se.

He also said he does not think South Africa has a viable opposition party and that the DA’s capturing of 22% of the vote was not convincing, which was concerning as “politicians only deliver if there is a viable threat to their office”. Later, McKaiser agreed that “unless the system becomes more competitive, the incentive for accountability is not there”.

Habib said that all parties had failed to address the biggest challenge in the country, namely inequality, which has grown every year since democracy. He went on to argue that one cannot take the problem for granted anymore “given what happened in Marikana and our violent service delivery protests”.

McKaiser agreed that inequality was a major political stumbling block and that political discourse needs to disagregate inequality from poverty and unemployment and see them as three different things rather than using them as three interchangeable terms. He added that inequality correlated more closely with violent crime than poverty.

Habib said the economic chapter in the National Development Plan “ducks inequality”, looking instead at growth. He said the best way to tackle inequality was through tax transfers and remuneration caps but that government was hesitant to implement these sorts of measures.

The discussion also touched on the crisis of leadership within South Africa’s political realm as well as voter choice – is it an ideological choice or one based on history? The discussion turned to whether a trade union party led by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) would be a viable opposition.

Van Graan argued that a left wing party was also not as detrimental to the enonomy as some feared, arguing that under former President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's worker party, Brazil saw massive economic growth.

Habib said that NUMSA had the national organisational structure, and the numbers to garner support to be a force to be reckoned with. McKaiser added that NUMSA had the necessary “liberation pedigree”. However, Habib argued that they needed to appeal to more than the working class to get big support. “Then they will be emulating the Brazilian experience,” he said.

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