SA political crime scene: we’re in the ‘golden hour’

Nkosikhulule Nyembezi

Cape Town - We are in the golden hour. That may sound warm and pleasant as if we have entered Durban, South Africa’s self-styled “playground”, where year-round warm weather welcomes everyone to make the most of the area’s natural outdoor lifestyle.

But you need only look at the political devastation wreaked by the ANC’s insistence on imposing unconstitutional restrictions on the electoral system reform process in the past weeks to know that is not what I have in mind.

Instead, I am using the phrase in a sense deployed by police: the golden hour refers to the period immediately after someone has committed a crime, when evidence is abundant, and detectives need to move fast to collect it.

We are in the political equivalent of that period, and ordinary citizens cannot afford to waste a second.

On November 5, The National Council of Provinces’ Select Committee on Security and Justice adopted the Electoral Amendment Bill with changes from the version of the bill passed by the National Assembly just more than a month ago.

The National Assembly must then adopt it again at a meeting scheduled for December 6, leaving just four days for President Cyril Ramaphosa to consider and sign it by December 10 to meet a deadline set by the Constitutional Court.

Of course, those opposed to the views of the committee chairperson, ANC MP from Limpopo Shahidabibi Shaik, that it is not plausible to implement a constituency-based system in time for the 2024 elections, are beginning with an advantage denied to most investigators.

The identity of the perpetrators is already known. Hence the sustained community voices opposing clauses unfairly advantaging political parties over independent candidates.

But those who favour making the principle “the people shall govern” real (not political parties shall govern) still have to work to make the current mood last.

Think of the years of valuable service put in by that workhorse of a political slogan: “the people shall govern”. In undermining it through delays and obstacles, the ANC has crashed the car into the ditch: we should never again trust it with the keys.

In the court of public opinion, there are no mitigating circumstances. That blame lies entirely with the ANC’s delay tactics, the party we entrusted to govern this country 28 years ago.

They have to do much more than point the finger at those in charge of the legislative process to give power to the people.

They have to craft a narrative that sticks in the public mind, one that endures even when the shock of the current havoc is no longer fresh.

In that effort, they get help because the South African political and socio-economic situation now resembles a crime scene. The accountability system tanked, public trust for political parties has rock-bottomed, and suspicions about the corrupt intentions of politicians across the board have leapt.

They will only get higher during the transitional phase of implementing this legislation.

The courts have increasingly become enforcers of critical policies to deal with the fallout of government neglect and reluctance to respect the Constitution, as one online wit put it, in a way that is increasingly departing from the constitutional norm.

Usually, politicians should welcome a court decision on electoral system reforms as a solution to an emergency rather than undermine and cause one. The international community has put South Africa on a political and socio-economic suicide watch, anxious that its serial acts of self-harm and rampant corruption could start hurting others.

But the intensity of this moment will pass. This is why it is now, during the golden hour, when people are paying attention and when views are still fluid and mouldable, that proponents of the inclusion of constituencies in our electoral system must ensure that they shape the account of what has just happened with this incomplete, long overdue piece of legislation – and who caused it – for it to become fixed in the memory of the masses.

It seems laughable now when the evidence is strewn all around the ground. Chief among the latest delay tactics is a clause for establishing a panel of experts to consider later more comprehensive electoral reform than the current bill provides.

That won’t wash because – at this moment – we all remember the sequence of events.

But making it stick challenges those who desire to see independent candidates hold office alongside political parties.

The model for taking the process forward can also be found in the contribution of our Nobel Peace Prize winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, when he delivered the second Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in 2004 on the 10th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy.

Bullishly, he told a tall tale in which “we want our society to be characterised by vigorous debate and dissent where to disagree is part and parcel of a vibrant community, that we should play the ball not the person and not think that those who disagree, who express dissent, are ipso facto disloyal or unpatriotic”.

He warned us that “unthinking, uncritical, kowtowing party line-toe-ing is fatal to a vibrant democracy” and that he was concerned “to see how many have so easily been seemingly cowed and apparently intimidated to comply”.

“I am sure proportional representation has been a very good thing, but it should have been linked to constituency representation.

“I fear that the party lists have had a deleterious impact on people even if that was not the intention.

“It is lucrative to be on a party list. The rewards are substantial, and if calling in question party positions jeopardises one’s chances to get on the list, then not too many are foolhardy and opt for silence to become voting cattle for the party,” he added.

So never again must the ANC lecture us on deepening democracy when all it can present is half-baked legislation. Forget driving into a ditch: you drove the car off a cliff.

Each of those pushing for a comprehensive overhaul of our electoral system can choose their words and metaphor. But they need to tell the story of this crisis so that it hangs around the neck of the ANC for a decade at least.

The golden hour is short – and the time to strike is now.

Nyembezi is a human rights activist and policy analyst

Cape Times

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Independent Media or IOL.