Quid Pro Quo

NPC Diagnosis: SA serious, but not critical

2011-07-19T12:09:00.008+02:00

South Africa is suffering from a chronic illness. Why is she so sick and what are the root causes of her ailments? The government-appointed National Planning Commission (NPC) seeks to provide some answers in its recently released Diagnostic Overview report by taking "a broad, cross-cutting, independent and critical view of South Africa."

Cyril Ramaphosa, NPC Deputy Chairperson

Deputy Chairperson of the Commission, Cyril Ramaphosa, and head of the NPC Secretariat, Kuben Naidoo, presented their findings at a forum held at the Gordon Institute of Business Science last week. The discussion provided a sobering examination of some of the country's structural defects, but was also defined by a spirit of optimism and frankness.

As stated in the NPC report (available online), the mandate of the Commission is "to help define the South Africa we seek to achieve in 20 years time and to map out a path to achieve those objectives. The commission is expected to put forward solid research, sound evidence and clear recommendations for government." [p.1]

Ramaphosa reiterated these objectives by highlighting the NPC's broad consultative nature and its attempt to achieve consensus on where the country is going. "We are consulting at a fairly deep level," he said, "through various forms and structures of society, from business, to NGOs, trade unions, religious organisations, you name them."

Ramaphosa spoke of the need for a guiding vision similar to the one that propelled the constitutional negotiations in the early 1990s, of which he was a principal player. "We need a vision statement for SA that when you read it, you can't help getting goosebumps," he said.

Roelf Meyer conducted the debate

According to the report, South Africa faces an overwhelming array of problems. These include low employment, poor education and a health care system struggling to cope with "a massive disease burden." The difficulties experienced today are the result of an enduring apartheid legacy coupled with poor policy planning and shoddy implementation post-1994.

The SA economy is also too resource-intensive claims the NPC, making it susceptible to capricious global commodity cycles [p.17]. "South Africa is a typical colonial economy," said Ramaphosa, "It is far too extractive in nature." Diversification is sorely needed to make the SA economy more agile, he argued.

Another focus of the report was on urban geography where there are "spatial challenges that continue to marginalise the poor" and infrastructure that is inadequate [p.19]. For example, poor South Africans are typically located on the margins of country's major cities and are forced to rely on expensive, unsafe and unreliable forms of transport in order to make a living.

These and other factors entrench the existing status quo of low growth and an unequal distribution of resources and wealth. In fact, reducing inequality is one of the core objectives of the National Planning Commission [see p.26].

Kuben Naidoo, head of the NPC Secretariat

Kuben Naidoo noted that one of the principal challenges facing SA was policy instability in the public sector [p.22]. With every new new minister comes changes in policy, he said, making it difficult to sustain long-term public policy programmes. Naidoo cited the Eastern Cape as an example, where in the 17 years since 1994 there have been a total of 14 MECs for Education. This turnover is far too high, he said.

Add to this the widespread presence of corruption and you have what amounts to a cumulative assault on the legitimacy of the state and its capacity to deliver services. Corruption, explains the NPC, "is particularly damaging to good relations between citizens and the state. It undermines confidence in the democratic system by enabling the better off to exert undue influence over the policy process or obtain preferential access to services." [p.25].

Responding to criticism that the NPC would ultimately be hampered by political constraints, Ramaphosa, who is also a member of the ANC National Executive, was as unequivocal as he could be. "We [in the NPC] will deal more with policy than with politics." he said. "We have to go beyond party interests. We are behoven to SA Inc, and not the interests of the ANC."

Another critical view expressed on the night was that the public consultative process had not gone far or wide enough. One audience member pointed out that the survey had only been conducted online, and in English, vastly narrowing the number of citizens who could participate. Ramaphosa's response was to commit to extending this process further - and in multiple tongues.

Returning to the medical metaphor, Ramaphosa took a cautiously optimistic view: "This patient walks, it is still alive," he said, "This patient is not terminally ill - it can be cured - we just need to find the right remedies."

The patient will find out what those remedies will be when the NPC presents its final plan to cabinet in November 2011. Whether the executive will be either willing or able to implement this plan remains to be seen - and therein lies the Commission's greatest challenge.

Photos: David Ansara

Looking back at Tunisia and Egypt

2011-07-03T23:11:00.008+02:00

The dramatic changes that continue to sweep through the Middle East, described variously as the “Arab Awakening”, the “Arab Spring” and the “Jasmine Revolution”, have shown the true depth of democratic sentiments in a region commonly associated with authoritarianism and limited civil liberties.

The speed and coordination with which dictators have been brought to their knees is the result of a unique confluence of factors: a crisis of raised expectations caused by increased economic opportunities (without concomitant political rights); access to information and the organising power of social networks, and; schisms within the dominant elites in these countries.

However, with the current crises in Libya, Syria and Yemen, the continuation of this trend has become progressively bloodier and more disorderly. It is therefore sobering to remember where it all started - in Tunisia and Egypt - where the genesis of the Awakening was both peaceful and profoundly democratic.

In a recent forum held at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), journalists and analysts sought to explore the origins, future implications and multiplier effects of these two upheavals.

Naeem Jeenah

Academic and activist, Naeem Jeenah chose to reference Vladimir Lenin in his address, whose words he believed aptly reflected the contemporary situation: “There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen,” Jeenah quoted.

“All of us should feel privileged to live in these weeks when decades are happening," Jeenah said, "when we are seeing lifetimes unfold in front of us in the course of a few months.”

Jeenah was also of the view that too much credit had been given to the mobilization of the middle classes through the internet and social networking tools, and not enough on the role of existing trade union structures, which he claimed were also used as platforms to organise politically.

“In Egypt, we knew that the writing was on the wall for [Hosni] Mubarak and the state when workers in some of the defence industry companies came out on strike,” he said. These movements, he argued, have renewed the belief in the power of people’s mass action to affect meaningful change.

Jean Jacques Cornish

EWN reporter, Jean Jacques Cornish commented on the Tunisian “contagion effect” that had spread from Tunisia to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco, Djibouti, Sudan, Jordan and of course, Libya.

Speaking about the lack of adequate forecasting before these events took place, Cornish remarked: “I’ve just come back from Paris where an official driving African policy gave one of those charming Gallic shrugs and admitted, ‘We simply had no idea.’”

This, as information came to light of the French government’s offer to train Tunisian riot police in crowd control tactics as the uprising unfolded. Cornish observed that the French have made an art form of the notion that in international relations a country doesn’t have friends, it has interests.

Not only had Western powers failed to predict the changes in Tunisia, he argued, but had also tacitly tolerated Ben Ali’s authoritarianism for the sake of stability - while preaching democracy elsewhere.

On this point Naeem Jeenah was also scathing, pointing out that both Tunisia and Egypt, with their high growth rates and relatively open economies, were regarded as model states by the IMF and the World Bank before 2011. Even the Mo Ibrahim Index of good governance ranked Tunisia and Egypt eighth and ninth respectively. “I really think we should chuck that list out the window right now,” Jeenah scoffed.

Tom Wheeler

Looking at the sustainability of democracy after the uprisings, former South African ambassador Tom Wheeler observed that many have questioned whether democracy is indeed possible in the Muslim world. He cited two examples where this is most definitely the case: Indonesia and Turkey.

Looking specifically at Turkey, which was an authoritarian state for most of the time that he was posted there (1997-2001), Wheeler noted that under the mildly Islamist government elected in 2002 there have been several significant steps taken towards democratic consolidation.

For one, the role of the military in state affairs has been drastically reduced. Moreover, in its attempt to join the European Union, the Turkish government has also had to conform more rigorously to international human rights standards and move away from the authoritarian secularism so similar to Ben Ali’s Tunisia and Mubarak’s Egypt.

“Although you have this Islamist government it is also more democratic, it is more responsive to the people, it is trying to deal with the Kurdish issue, and so on,” he said.

“So there is a role model in the Middle East for the countries that are now going through this enormous process of change,” he said.

An uncertain but exciting future awaits these two catalysts of the revolutionary epidemic in the Middle East. Both Tunisia and Egypt have entered an exciting and dynamic period, but their future rests on the establishment of transparent, robust institutions and the rule of law. Only this combination will ensure a lasting social contract for the new order.

Photos: David Ansara

Foresight 2011

2010-12-25T11:58:00.001+02:00

Thought leaders in politics, economics and business recently gathered at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) to forecast how the world will change in the year ahead. They concluded that the global economy will continue to tremble and the South African political arena will once again endure many highs and lows.

Adrian Saville, CEO of Cannon Asset Managers and a senior lecturer at GIBS, identified the greatest challenge for the world in 2011 as being whether or not the traditional powers could break free from the fetters of the recession.

In Saville’s view the developed economies, the US and the EU in particular, had failed to see that this is “no ordinary recession.” The ever-increasing mountain of debt these countries are having to pay off will eventually lead them into a situation similar to that experienced by Japan in the 1990s and 2000s, where endless debt obligations hampered long-term growth.

“The fact that our three largest trading partners, and our three largest investment partners, Japan, Western Europe and North America are going to continue to stutter causes headwinds for South Africa,” he cautioned.

But potential openings also existed for South Africa out of the re-alignment in the international political economy. “We tend to be enamoured with the China and India story, yet Sub-Saharan Africa is growing almost as fast as India and the per capita incomes of Sub-Saharan Africa are higher than India.” he noted. “So we are embedded in an incredible opportunity.”

Dr. Lyal White, a consultant and lecturer at GIBS, echoed this view and noted that 2011 would mark the start of the decade of the Dynamic Markets. He predicted that mature markets would grow by 1.7% (at best), while dynamic markets would grow at an average of about 6.5%. “In short, growth has really shifted from the North and the West, to the South and the East and debt has moved decisively to the North,” he said.

Phuthuma Nhleko, Group President and CEO of MTN, also marvelled at how the tectonic plates of the global economy were shifting. Like Saville, Nhleko saw a chance for SA, Inc. to take advantage of this crisis, especially as corporations begin to engage more actively in the continent (as MTN had done to great success). "Africa is in effect the best-kept open secret from an investment perspective - and a return perspective," he said.

Nhleko also commented on the decline of some of the formerly venerable institutions of the West. “If you had said five years ago that some of the sovereign funds would be taking over Citibank and UBS and so on, somebody would have said ‘you’re smoking something’, but the reality is that this has happened and I think for me that is a fundamental change.”

For Nhleko, demography was a key barometer of future competitiveness, with Europe and Japan rapidly ageing, and the youthful populations of India and China swelling the size of their workforces at a remarkable rate.

Focusing on the public sector and the political realm back home, executive director of FeverTree Consulting, Roelf Meyer argued that the issue of service delivery would be one of the defining points of the coming year and beyond.

“There are huge, huge problems in this area, and they are not decreasing,” he said. “On a daily basis there are more and more local authorities that can’t supply some sort of service that is desperately needed by the people that they are supposed to deliver to.”

Water, electricity and sanitation were all affected, he noted, and those who suffer the most are those who cannot afford to pay for alternative services.

Meyer also observed that this deterioration was not confined to remote areas, pointing to the supposedly developed town of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, which is experiencing severe capacity problems. Meyer speculated that campaigning for the local elections in 2011 would lead to even greater delivery shortfalls.

Gauteng MEC for Education, Barbara Creecy discussed some of the immense challenges that have arisen in education, particularly following the prolonged public sector strike that gripped the country in August.

Creecy explained that although the question of “redress, access and equity” in the education system had largely been resolved since 1994, the issue of learner performance needed to be addressed, particularly in maths, sciences and literacy.

Creecy said that institutional factors and the impact of poverty were affecting the state’s ability to make these improvements, and that internal migration and deteriorating facilities were taking their toll. “So not only have we not managed to address historical back-logs, but the back-logs in fact get greater and greater.”

Compounding the problem, approximately 60% of this year’s curriculum simply wasn’t covered owing to an inability on the part of teachers to fully engage with course material. The problem is teacher understanding and knowledge of curriculum content, the MEC said, and not teachers’ level of qualifications, which are relatively high. As an illustrative example, Creecy admitted that in 2008 the department had a sample of matric maths teachers write the grade 6 maths exam and only 60% of them passed.

Shaka Sisulu of Cheesekids argued that young people would react strongly to the increasingly more testing and rapidly evolving environment bestowed upon them by their elders. Sisulu warned that the current establishment will resist some of the pressures of this transition.

“Even though we have always seen the youth being vigorous, and vigorously challenging the status quo, there is [now] a lot more at stake for the status quo globally, but particularly in South Africa.”

Gary Morolo, Chairman of Datacentrix, spoke about the general feelings of anxiety in the country when looking to the future. “As South Africans we have extreme sentiment swings. We are either wildly euphoric or we are deeply pessimistic and we are in one of those phases where we say ‘this country is going to the dogs’.”

While many of these problems are cause for concern, Morolo said it is possible to be vigilant in guarding against abuses of power without resorting to hysteria. To do this the country needs strong checks and balances.

“What we have to ensure is that those important structures of state that are constitutionally protected continue to be that way, that we don’t find ourselves in a position where our institutions are perverted…where we allow the Constitution to be subverted in any way. So long as people are not touching those institutions then we have recourse to do something about it,” he said.

Social Media and the Context for Corporates

2010-10-14T15:26:00.014+02:00

By David Ansara and Sarann Buckby

A tweet there, a status update here, a blog post over there. This seemingly inconsequential stream of online commentary has suddenly begun to challenge the orthodoxies of traditional marketing approaches. Granted, corporates may have come to the social media party late, but they are showing every intention of playing catch-up. And those companies that don’t embrace these new methods of communication risk being left behind in the turgid realm of old media.

Justin Spratt, managing partner at Quirk eMarketing, brought some of SA’s top social media thinkers and doers together at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) on Tuesday 12th October. They discussed the effect that new technology platforms are having on brand awareness and consumer behaviour, as well as on society itself.

From left to right, Andre Hugo, Mary Mzumara, Justin Spratt, Mike Stopforth, and Jarred Cinman, who sees the fervour surrounding pop star Justin Bieber as a symbol of the tyranny of the crowd.

The power individuals now have to broadcast their opinions to friends and followers on their networks can be to the benefit or detriment of any brand, no matter how powerful. As news of a company’s triumphs or missteps can spread like a virus, how do marketers and PR agents respond?

Mike Stopforth, founder and CEO of Cerebra, illustrated the power of new media by arguing that brand identity was formed through the collective thoughts, associations, emotions and experiences of the user. Such modes of behaviour have been with human beings forever, he argued, but were now being amplified by technology. “It’s word-of-mouth on steroids,” he explained.

Social media was about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, Stopforth chimed. He urged businesses to empathise with, and listen to, their customers, and to see the product as their buyers do. “It can be very difficult to read the label when we are inside of the bottle,” he said.

The consumer is getting smarter faster than we can keep up, he added, and thus companies looking to understand social media need to get to grips with the idea of community, rather than a de-humanized set of data to be manipulated and codified. “Community-building happens over the long term. It’s not a T20 match; it’s a five day test,” he said.

Jarred Cinman, strategy director at Native, articulated a more contrarian perspective. Firstly, he said, social media has had an insidious effect on people’s conduct, as it cultivates egoism and was highly distractive. “Human beings love distracting things,” he observed, at which point, Stopforth quipped that idling on Facebook in the workplace was “social not-working.”

Justin Spratt, Jarred Cinman, and Mike Stopforth. An audience member playfully reprimanded Stopforth on Twitter for being distracted by his phone during the discussion, to which he tweeted back: "@candiceburin pff. I have the attention span of a goldfish"

The ongoing infatuation with networking is the ultimate opiate of the masses, Cinman scoffed, drawing on Marxist theory. “[Users] might hate a brand, but they’re still talking about brands.”

“It’s a playground for the worst aspects of human nature – greed, power, lust, revenge and the sheep mentality,” Cinman said. He added that the anonymity enjoyed by people commenting on online news articles or YouTube videos allowed racism, sexism and fundamentalism to flourish.

There was also the alienation of having scores of fake friends, which Cinman observed was odd when compared with the increase in depression in young people. “A thousand friends, how could I be depressed?” he joked.

The networks also bred a culture of sameness and unoriginality that he claimed was built into the system. “For me the notion of the long tail is a complete misnomer.” People are clustering around a few ideas and repeating them, he explained.

Mary Mzumara

Mary Mzumara, another managing partner at Quirk, countered this with some revealing examples of the consequences of disobeying the crowd. She used the recent experience of clothing retailer GAP, and its hasty withdrawal of an ill-conceived rebranding exercise. Online users voted down its new logo, forcing the company to revert back to its iconic tag. Judgement was still out on whether this was a marketing coup or catastrophe.

There are three broad categories of social media objectives - sales or marketing gains; increased engagement and; improved relationships or reputation. Mzumara alluded to this by differentiating between sales media and social media.

Employers too, Mzumara suggested, could tap into the power of online crowds and suck the marrow of talent out of their employees by better engaging them on social networks. The only thing stopping corporates from taking the leap is fear and trepidation, she warned.

According to Andre Hugo, a director at Deloitte, the auditing firm had already made that leap, and with amazing consequences. As a pioneer of Deloitte Digital, Hugo spoke of the improved intellectual capital and originality that had come out of obliging employees to generate more ideas and share them on internal networks.

In a recent drive, Deloitte employees created a pool of thousands of original business proposals, half a dozen of which resulted in concrete ventures. The effective internal use of social media whittled a six-month process down to six weeks, and increased the dynamism and elasticity of the business.

Andre Hugo demonstrating the power of social media

Contra Stopforth, Hugo argued that social media was just another set of data that companies could analyse and use. He illustrated this with a series of inkblot graphs that demonstrated the spread of key messages through targeted networks. Hugo’s approach highlighted how online data can inform and improve communication tactics, resulting in a better return on investment for companies.

The panel expressed the view that if corporates did not integrate social media into their marketing strategies they could be sure their competitors were doing so. This motivation, while true on some levels, seemed to fall prey to the “sheep mentality” derided by Cinman. A more effective approach, as shown in Hugo’s case study, is for marketers to understand what they want to achieve through social media before they set out, and to convince management to buy into the expectations and definitions of success in social media.

The overarching message of the evening was that social networking is fast reaching its zenith and those who do not engage with it will simply be ignored. And whatever you do, don’t ban your employees from surfing their networks at the office.

Sarann Buckby is a director at Phatic Communications, a digital PR and social media agency. David Ansara is a freelance writer.

This article was originally written for MBAnetwork, an information portal and networking site for prospective and current MBA students in South Africa.

Photos: David Ansara

Obama and the Middle East

2010-10-11T15:03:00.006+02:00

In April 2009, my friend Robert Krause and I took part in a series of televised current affairs programmes in London featured on the news channel Press TV. The show was called Forum, and was structured around audience participation and debate. Above is an excerpt from the episode focusing on 'Obama and the Middle East' and contains both mine and Mr. Krause's questions to the panel.

Robert Krause: "It's very possible that even according to some Israeli NGOs that actually the two-state solution has already been, or is about to be, buried just by the sheer scale of settlement construction, [and] bypassed roads in the West Bank, which have sliced up the territory and made a Palestinian State economically impossible; so how is Obama going to react to the death of the two-state solution and find other solutions (a single state solution or a bi-national solution)?"

David Ansara: "Do you think Mr. Obama will be able to adopt a more principled position towards Israel, rather than one that just solely protects Israel's interests?"

I do not believe that America solely protects Israel's interests, as I implied unsubtly in my question to the panel, but the country still remains the most important strategic ally for the US in the Middle East. This has not changed under President Obama, who has nevertheless bravely attempted to bring both parties to the negotiation table, albeit with limited success.

It will be interesting to observe how he reacts to the current thaw in the Israeli settlement construction freeze on the West Bank. Even if there is an extension of the freeze period, the issue could be sufficiently sticky to prompt the withdrawal of the Palestinian Authority from the present negotiations. Obama will have to use all his persuasive powers to keep them at the table.

Perhaps Mr. Krause is correct when he suggests that a unitary state within a single set of borders might be a better option than the two-state solution. I don't know for sure, but I still think that two sovereign territories along the 1967 borders would be preferable. However, if the Palestinians are left with a cantonized, segmented territory, then that might not be acceptable to them and a negotiated settlement could remain forever elusive. Alternatives such as the one expressed here by Mr. Krause should be seriously considered if both sides wish to see peace sooner rather than later.

A Small Movie with a Big Message

2010-10-08T17:49:00.013+02:00

The South African film A Small Town Called Descent is currently being screened at the Tri Continents Film Festival in Johannesburg. Directed by first-time filmmaker Jahmil X. T. Quebeka, the film is a hard examination of some the ugly realities of contemporary SA.

Descent is not the easiest film to watch: production and sound quality are variable, the plot takes too many twists and turns, and there is an over-reliance on stock footage, which sometimes detracts from the narrative and the characters before you.

That said, there is something quite brutal and honest about Quebeka’s confrontation of the xenophobic violence of May 2008, and the effect that these events had on the collective psyche of the nation.

Moreover, his work documents how the gush of violence exposed a deeper uncertainty about the institutions of our democracy and the perception of our own moral certainty after the end of apartheid. The fallibility of our policing services and the difficulty of their task in an environment of official lawlessness and corruption was another striking aspect of the film.

I caught up with one of its stars, Paul Buckby, who will be familiar to fans of television series Generations, and Egoli. He is also currently on our TV screens as detective Eddie Holmes on Isidingo on SABC3.

David Ansara: In the film you play a member of the Scorpions tasked with investigating a xenophobic attack in the titular (and fictional) Karoo town of ‘Descent’. Describe your character and what motivates him.

Paul Buckby: The character I play is a Scorpion called 'Nathan Liebowitz'. The idea of giving him an Israeli identity was to avoid the too-often-seen, stereotypical relationship between the black cop and the Afrikaner cop. This also helps to mystify him somewhat. Nathan alludes to having served in the Israeli Special Forces and in the SA Parabats, so he's not an open book as far as his experience is concerned. He is motivated by seeing justice done and takes his career seriously.

DA: What were the challenges of playing Liebowitz?

PB: Liebowitz is a walking paradox. He appears to be in complete control of his world around him, but inside he wages war with his demons. To show this contrast gently, was a challenge.

DA: Descent is wide-ranging in terms of its subject matter. In fact, it probably tries to tackle too much (xenophonbia, corruption, gender violence, the legacy of Apartheid, crime, racism, etc). But it nevertheless paints an interesting portrait of the eventful period between the end of 2007 and late 2008. What themes in the film resonated most strongly with you, and how have audiences reacted to the issues portrayed in the movie?

PB: South Africa certainly offers the film maker a kaleidoscope of subjects to focus on and I agree with you that maybe director Jahmil X. T. Quebeka tackled too many of them at once, but so much was going on around that time, not least of which, was the sudden recall of Thabo Mbeki. It’s hard to avoid references to Apartheid in this film or corruption for that matter, which has become cannon-fodder for the media. Xenophobia, a term I hadn't really heard of until 2007-8, has now become a part of my daily dialogue.

The variety of subjects shown in Descent has certainly gotten audiences talking. However, the Issue of xenophobia is to me what the film is all about. Even though the Scorpion characters have different backgrounds and political convictions, they discover that their humanity is a constant and it brings them together.

DA: The role was very physical and there are several action sequences. Were you up to the task?

PB: It’s amazing how willing actors are to throw themselves into risky situations, just to get the perfect shot. The fight sequence with 'Demon' (John Dlamini) was very physical and he was great to work with. He has no experience as an actor, but rose to the occasion admirably. There is a scene where we are grappling with each other near some shacks, when he is choreographed to pick me up and bulldoze me into a shack wall. After a slightly measured first take, I asked him not to hold back his aggression. Well, the second take was somewhat different…

Paul Buckby in action as Nathan Liebowitz

He picked me up with the same ease as I would a sheaf of wheat and rammed me into the shack. I felt something give in my rib cage, which left me winded! I was in agony, but we had to soldier on. The sequence shows me wincing, which I used, without any choice, to full effect. It took me a month to recover from what I thought was a broken rib, but turned out to be less than so. It was worth it!

DA: Ouch. What were some of the other highlights from the shoot for you personally?

PB: The black Golf GTi played a vital role, not only as the 'Scorpionmobile', but as a car I really enjoyed driving around our shooting location, Somerset East. It’s an awesome car to drive. It created a stir with the locals, who must've thought we were the real deal.

I remember an amusing incident one morning: We were standing next to our Gti, adorned in imposing Scorpion insignia and a blue light. We were waiting to get the call to set, fully kitted out in Kevlar vests and wearing our 9mm Brownings, when a coloured gentleman, looking quite distressed, asked if we could assist him to break up a fight between two farmers! I must say, I was tempted to do so! I'm sure we would've diffused the situation, even though our sidearms were empty!

DA: A convincing portrayal indeed! There are many graphic depictions of violence and sexual assault in the film. Did you feel it was necessary to show, for instance, the photograph of the Burning Man, the Mozambican Ernesto Nhamuave?

PB: This tragic event is what spawned the idea for the film. When Jahmil saw the photo on the front pages, he was moved to try and investigate this further - if only on a fictional level. The showing of this photo will hopefully serve to remind us of what we don't want to experience ever again.

DA: Has filmmaking become more or less difficult in South Africa, particularly for young or first-time directors? I am referring particularly to funding, logistics, distribution, etc.

PB: I’m planning to produce my first film next year, so maybe I will have to put my answer to that one on hold until I've experienced the challenges for myself. I can say that Anand Singh from VideoVision, the distributor for Descent, said at the recent Durban Film Festival that it’s an exciting time for filmmaking in SA, however, the challenge of securing a distribution deal remains enormous. His advice is to continue making the films you want to make and don't give up.

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A Small Town Called Descent is produced by A Moment's Entertainment and is showing at Cinema Nouveau Brooklyn Mall (18h00) and Rosebank (20h00) tomorrow, Saturday 9th October, 2010. It is scheduled for nationwide release in February 2011.

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Images courtesy of Paul Buckby

Pledge to take back the racial middle ground in South Africa

2010-10-05T15:01:00.004+02:00

My friend Patrick Madden wrote a call to action in April of this year, which was a period of intense racial animosity and uncertainty in the country. He crafted this pledge as a way of restoring some sanity to the discourse surrounding the national question in South Africa, and it bears repeating. See Patrick's explanation as well as the original pledge here.

I recognise the feelings of tension and anger felt between people of different races in South Africa today.

I recognise that nurturing these feelings undermines our mutual best interests and our highest ambitions for ourselves, our communities and our nation.

I recognise my interdependence with all South Africans. I affirm that South Africans of all races and cultures can work together to improve the conditions of our lives and our environment.

Recognising our common humanity, I pledge to relate to all South Africans with compassion and respect and to work with them in an atmosphere of openness and mutual recognition.

I aspire to create a South Africa that is safe and caring for all. Therefore, I personally vow to refrain from violence and from violent speech towards anyone, regardless of their race or culture.

I was particularly moved by the statement concerning the inherent interdependence of different racial groups. The goodwill of the World Cup went some way towards pushing these concerns aside, but the issues Patrick raises are no less cogent today than they were six months ago. It is the responsibility of all of us to treat others with dignity and respect and to view our interests not simply as a zero-sum racial game.

Original image: Poplicks.com

Business as usual is not good enough anymore

2010-10-04T14:35:00.003+02:00

The global financial crisis has changed the way we do business. It has forced society to re-evaluate its attitude to risk and wealth generation, and prompted a critical appraisal of corporate responsibility and ethics.

The crisis has also affected thinking on management. The manner in which business leaders interpret these phenomena and accordingly alter their conduct in the marketplace has profound implications for the future of the international economy. The need to adapt, argues Prof. Walter Baets, the head of the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), is urgent and unavoidable.

Speaking at a UCT alumni event in Sandton on September 28th, Prof. Baets argued that being ethical or socially responsible are not nice-to-haves. Rather, not to be more socially engaged would run the risk of fundamentally misunderstanding how the world really works, and business’s role in that world.

What characterises emerging markets such as our own, Baets explained, are high degrees of uncertainty, high degrees of complexity, and extreme levels of inequality. Reflecting on his years in the financial services sector, he criticised the process of financial modelling. Many of these analyses, he said, have no bearing on the reality of emerging economies and the complexities of their social landscapes.

Baets described the traditional managerial technique of solving problems through assessing cause and effect as a classic Newtonian Paradigm. However, the challenges facing businesses today are different: they are non-linear, deeply complex and full of unforeseen variables. The problem with most financial models, he noted, is that they presume we can solve a complex world solely by examining causal relationships. You can’t.

Ninety five percent of what business schools teach is Newtonian, he said, but what is really needed is something akin to Quantum Mechanics, a practice which takes into account multiple, and seemingly invisible paradigms when approaching a problem.

“You can never understand a phenomenon in three dimensions if you live in a two dimensional world,” he said, “If you want to understand an organisation you have to understand it systemically.”

As head of the UCT GSB, Baets also attacked the pedagogy of business schools, insisting that MBA students need to grasp that their learning is not about a fixed set of outcomes. “Traditionally in an exam we don’t test intelligence; we test your capacity to say what [the examiner] wants you to say,” he criticised, gesticulating wildly.

“I can’t teach you anything! I can only teach you how to learn […] For example, I can explain the rules of soccer but I can’t make you a soccer player. The same is true for a musician or a pilot.” The latter, he explained, aren’t given the joystick and told to fly; they are introduced to piloting gradually through flight simulators. The same approach should be taken with managers, he mused.

The professor used yet another metaphor, that of the motorcycle racer who has to balance on the threshold of collapse while taking a corner at high-speed. He insisted that if you want your business to win the race you need to go beyond the equilibrium and push yourself to "the edge of chaos". Like the motrorcyclist, you need to do this at every turn, not just once or twice.

In terms of business' social strategy, Baets submitted that companies should ask themselves what they add to society - a broader question than simply evaluating their philanthropic contribution. “It all starts with values. What are you doing it for? If you company is bankrupt, what are you missing? And if the answer is 'nothing', then why do you exist?”

Baets insisted that you cannot decree to become a sustainable or ethical company overnight. “If you really want to have a transformational impact on society you have to understand society and people in a holistic way.”

Photo: David Ansara

This article was originally written for MBAnetwork an information portal and networking site for prospective and current MBA students in South Africa.

McKinsey report - 'Lions on the move: The progress and potential of African economies'

2010-09-28T16:02:00.011+02:00

Africa presents myriad opportunities for growth and investment in the near future and beyond. So says The McKinsey Global Institute, a think tank focusing on business and economics research worldwide. McKinsey partners presented the findings of their June 2010 report Lions on the Move: The progress and potential of African economies at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) on 14 September. Their conclusions were both surprising and encouraging.

Mutsa Chironga, Engagement Manager in McKinsey’s Sub-Saharan Office, observed that in the global political economy most growth has come from emerging markets, and that Africa forms part of this new dynamic fold. “Growth has headed South, while debt has headed North”, he said.

Mutsa Chironga

This growth is about far more than simply resources, Chironga observed. Referring to the report, he noted that although the boom in commodity prices had certainly helped Africa, this growth was also the result of government actions to improve the political and macroeconomic environments and to create a healthier overall business climate.

“Africa’s business opportunities are potentially very large, particularly for companies in consumer-facing industries, resources, agriculture, and infrastructure,” the report noted. The question to ask from here is whether this growth will be sustained if the oil price drops?

The answer is: most likely. Africa is seen as the final frontier of growth, Chironga said, and the last opportunity for many companies to significantly grow their market share, especially in strategic industries such as telecommunications, banking and retail.

Chironga pointed to some key factors that could lead to potential long-term and sustained success. For instance, investment in Africa has increased seven-fold in the last decade. In addition, GDP growth has reached levels of USD 1,5 trillion, making the combined value of the continent’s economy the tenth largest in the world.

With approximately a billion people within its borders, Africa comprises about 14% of the global population. Half of these people are under the age of 35 years, representing a huge untapped reserve of potential skilled and unskilled labour. In this light, the report notes that, “[by] 2040, the continent will be home to one in five of the planet’s young people, and the size of its labour force will top China’s.” (p.50.)

However, Chironga cautioned that the downside to this remarkable story is political risk and uncertainties surrounding stability and security. Perceptions of these risks are still high, and are the number one factor hindering investment. Another challenge is in education, where improvements have been made, but not at the desired rate.

Arend van Wamelen, a Principal in McKinsey & Company’s Johannesburg office, developed these concepts further.

He referred to a key element of the report: “Long-term growth also will be lifted by internal social and demographic trends, particularly Africa’s growing labor force, urbanisation, and the related rise of middle-class consumers.” (p.1.). Although urbanisation is not uniformly good, and comes with many challenges (e.g. slums and strains on services), urban dwellers tend to be more productive and add positively to consumer spending, he said.

Another topic van Wamelen addressed was the role of China on the continent and the growing infrastructure investment that the world’s second largest economy has provided for many African countries (levels that are now higher than that of the World Bank’s).

Arend van Wamelen

Van Wamelen took note of, but ultimately dismissed, fears that this represents a neo-colonial push that will benefit only one partner. African governments, he said, were becoming far shrewder in their dealings with China, and the demand for commodities which has bolstered growth has come largely from the East.

Rates of credit provided by the Chinese were also far lower than those offered by other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) such as the IDC and DBSA, which aided development.

Both speakers were particularly excited about the potential for an “African Green Revolution” on the level of those experienced, for example, in India and Bangladesh. According to the report, Africa contains 60% of the world’s unused arable land.

If, and only if, improvements in policy and technology can be applied to the agricultural sector then this too could potentially contribute to Africa’s economic growth. The McKinsey report underscored that this is by no means a certainty, and that a lot of work will have to be done to realize this potential.

Generally speaking, this is exciting news for a continent long mired in low rates of growth, hyperinflation and political instability. With the cessation of several major conflicts and the liberalization of many core economies, Africa is now set to lift off, but the right buttons will have to be pushed before that can happen.

Photo: David Ansara

Graph: McKinsey Global Institute & International Monetary Fund

This article was originally written for MBAnetwork, an information portal and networking site for prospective and current MBA students in South Africa.

Right 2 Know campaign launches in Gauteng

2010-09-17T18:03:00.006+02:00

William Bird of Media Monitoring Africa

The state is seeking to undermine media freedom and restrict access to information according to the Right 2 Know campaign. The umbrella body, comprising NGOs, media and civil rights groups has gathered over 9000 signatures of individuals and organisations to protest against the Protection of Information Bill currently before parliament (as well as the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal or ‘MAT’).

The movement launched its Gauteng chapter on Wednesday 15 September at the Wits University School of Law to an audience of academics, students and interested citizens. Campaign organisers argued that these plans represent a threat to constitutional rights such as freedom of speech and access to information, and conflict with existing legislation, such as the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

William Bird of Media Monitoring Africa, one of the principal NGOs behind the Right 2 Know campaign, spoke in no uncertain terms about the potential dangers. “Let the truth be told, stop the Secrecy Bill!” he proclaimed. “It affects all of us … anybody within SA’s borders will be affected by this Bill if it were to go through in its current form; meaning that we wouldn’t have half the access to information that we currently do."

One of the problems of the “Secrecy Bill” is the appeal mechanism. If a citizen wishes to oppose classification of a document, he or she needs to lodge a complaint to have it overturned – to the very minister who classified the information in the first place. Said minister could easily deny this request by citing state security concerns defined under a broad ‘national interest’ clause in the act.

This, according to Freedom of Expression Institute Executive Director Ayesha Kajee, will create “super-ministers” who will lack accountability. Kajee warned that when writing legislation the effect can be lasting. The present government needs to consider how its worst enemies would misuse these laws were they to get into power, she said.

In addition, no ‘public interest’ clause was present in the Bill, which effectively forbids leaks of classified information being made under any circumstances. It would make revealing, or being in possession of, such information a criminal offence, potentially having a chilling effect on citizens or journalists seeking to investigate corruption or of whistle-blowers revealing malfeasance.

The Freedom of Expression Network, a grassroots organisation seeking to promote transparency and accountability, was adamant that the message be carried to ordinary citizens. “This Bill will turn South Africa into a society of secrets, impeding the free flow of information,” said Siphiwe Segodi, a coordinator of the FXN. Segodi called for forums such as Nedlac to be used to pressurize the government to revise its stance. The campaign needed to work closely with Cosatu, as the Bill will affect the right to protest and to strike, he said.

The Secrecy Bill would also have a negative affect on the ability of academics to pursue their research effectively, according Anthony Butler, Professor of Political Studies at Wits. Butler noted that the ANC had a long history of antagonism towards academic institutions and other civic groups that have sought to influence the public policy agenda, and that the Bill was a continuation of this. But he also added that “Universities have not perhaps reflected hard enough on their own limitations and weaknesses,” in terms of their historic place in a divided society.

Gabriella Razzano, of the South African History Archive, insisted that “if this Bill is passed in anything that looks like its current form there will definitely be a challenge in court run by this campaign.” However, there were also calls to let the legislature consider the Bill in full and to report back with adjustments. A judicial challenge could be left open as a secondary means of resistance, following civic action and public participation into the drafting process.

Photo: David Ansara

South African Business School Expo hits Sandton

2010-09-16T10:04:00.010+02:00

Why embark on an MBA? Does it add to your professional development or is it an expensive way of multiplying your stress levels? Crucially, how do you choose the institution that best fits your interests, your career objectives, and your budget? On September 9th prospective MBA students were able to ask these questions themselves and sample the offerings of some of the best business education institutions at the SABSA MBA Open Day at the Sandton Convention Centre.

A range of business schools put together displays manned with friendly and informative personnel eager to hand out their brochures, free pens and wrapped sweets. There was also a long programme of presentations and workshops running throughout the day focusing on a range of subjects such as the best companies to work for, and the challenges of transformation, corporate wellness, and strategic leadership.

Zimasa Koyana, right, answering questions about the Wits Business School’s offerings.

Many feel the MBA is worth the long hours, diminished family time and the added pressure and certainly its advantages are more multifaceted than simply boosting your CV. “The learning doesn’t end in the classroom; it is a much broader learning environment,” said Zimasa Koyana, of Wits Business School. With extensive use of case studies and integrated learning, not to mention the huge potential for networking, the MBA has benefits that extend beyond the curriculum, she said.

Koyana noted that most graduates leave their initial degrees having specialized in a particular academic discipline - whether it is accounting, history, or IT - that taught them specialised skills. “The MBA moves them from that specialised space to the general management space so that they can better understand how their skills fit together in the working world,” she said.

UCT GSB's Segran Nair, right, took a holistic view of the MBA.

Segran Nair a Director of the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business emphasised that the degree was not a shortcut to a fat pay check. “You come to a business school not purely to achieve success, but to be transformed,” he said. Apart from the academic rigour of the programme, UCT GSB also integrates personal and leadership development, and even yoga and meditation classes into its programme to help maintain the balance between learning and improving one’s state of mind.

In addition to the MBA, many schools offer a postgraduate diploma in management, which is aimed at recent graduates or those with one-to-three years of work experience. These are typically individuals who are looking to fast-track their way into the world of business, but who are unwilling or unable to pursue the full MBA.

At schools such as Wits or the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) for instance, the graduate diploma can form the foundation for an MBA further down the line, sometimes contributing credit towards the higher degree. Should students excel academically in the diploma they can potentially be accepted for the MBA if they wish to further their studies (conditional upon a 65% aggregate in the case of GIBS). If students are unsure about whether an MBA is right for them, they can always leave with the more basic qualification and still benefit immensely.

GIBS staff members were kept busy by a multitude of interested perspective students.

Shaun Rozyn, Director of the Company Specific Programmes at GIBS, drew attention to the fantastic opportunities that being part of an MBA alumni network can bring. “It gives you the chance to benchmark and to ask yourself ‘How good am I?’” he beamed, referring to the dynamism that comes with brainstorming and problem-solving with some of the brightest up-and-comers in various industries. Rozyn says that the University of Pretoria, the school’s umbrella body, gives GIBS the freedom to respond to market needs by giving it a measure of autonomy.

Letisha Greyling, left, and Owen Skae, right, of Rhodes Investec Business School emphasised sustainability: even encouraging visitors to recycle their sweet wrappers.

Prof. Owen Skae of the Rhodes Investec Business School emphasised his institution’s focus on environmental sustainability, which he said is integrated into all facets of the course. I asked him why somebody based in the metropolitan centres would want to journey all the way to Grahamstown to complete an MBA. He replied that many residents of Johannesburg and Cape Town make their way down to the Eastern Cape, and that the modular block release format of the degree allows them to spend as little time away from home as possible. The beauty of the campus and the youthful atmosphere of the town were big drawcards, he said, as well as the backing of a major financial service provider.

Whether you are a fresh graduate, a mid-level manager or a director, there is always potential to learn, interact and create within the business school environment. You have to be ready for it financially and intellectually – and also ensure that you time your studies to coincide with a strategic point in your career.

Photos: David Ansara

This report first appeared on MBAnetwork, an information portal and networking site for potential and current MBA students in South Africa.

GIBS Forum: A leadership and vision beyond 2010

2010-09-07T22:08:00.008+02:00

This report appeared on MBAnetwork, an information portal and networking site for potential and current MBA students in South Africa (link).

African markets are the new frontier of growth in the global economy, and South Africa requires a coherent long-term strategy for its engagement with the continent. This was the message from three of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) on Monday 6^th September. The strengthening of South-South trade relationships and the emergence of China has the potential to dramatically transform Africa’s economies in the coming years.

Left to Right, Abdullah Verachia (MC) and Dr. Martyn Davies of Frontier Advisory; Leslie Maasdorp of Absa Capital; Dr. Acha Leke of McKinsey & Company.

Leslie Maasdorp, Managing Principal and Vice Chairman at Absa Capital and Barclays Capital, observed that SA’s self-perception as a nation “vacillated between excessive optimism and needless pessimism.” It was important, he noted, to have an open discussion about what we can learn from successful economies.

Pointing to middle-income countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, Maasdorp observed that, “the notion of an economic miracle is a misnomer. There were very specific targeted interventions that these countries took that lead them on a path to economic growth. There is no formula for success, but they did have a very specific vision,” he argued, “In South Africa there is no such single coherent vision, nor is there a growth strategy that can take us to that.”

Maasdorp called for far-sighted leadership, noting that “people and countries are responsible for their own destinies.” He speculated that the National Planning Commission, the cabinet portfolio headed by former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, “could emerge as the single most important initiative of this government, provided that it challenges current paradigms and takes note of global forces shaping the 21^st century.”

Dr. Acha Leke, a Director in McKinsey & Company’s Sub-Saharan African office, took a sweeping view of Africa’s remarkable upward trajectory over the last decade. Fundamental changes had occurred throughout the continent: political and macroeconomic stability, combined with microeconomic reforms had effectively loosened the fetters to growth, he said.

Leke added that many markets had liberalized and diversified into key areas, especially user-facing industries such as retail, banking, and telecommunications, thus bolstering growth during a time of recession in the industrialised world. He cited the little-known fact that Africa’s commodities exports only accounted for 24% of GDP (from 2002-07), illustrating the plural nature of its economies.

Considering Africa’s combined Real GDP growth of 4,9% from 2000-08, Leke believed the continent now offered the highest return on investment on capital in the world. He gave the example of Nigeria, which suffered from an image of being a high investment liability. In fact, the scale of profits generated by international companies such as MTN showed the extent of the potential in the Nigerian market and the gulf between perceived and actual risk.

Added to the mix is the fact that South-South trade flows were growing significantly. “We need to expand our networks beyond our traditional links,” Leke said. He also insisted that African countries have to exchange goods and services more readily, “We need to work more and better together.”

Leke also warned that newly diversified African economies face challenges and “must increase their global competitiveness. Unit labour costs are much higher in Africa than they are in China or India and this needs to change.”

Dr. Martyn Davies, CEO of Frontier Advisory and a faculty member at GIBS, looked at the forces behind the rise of the major emerging markets, and most importantly, The People’s Republic of China. Having recently eclipsed Japan as the world’s second largest economy, China’s appetite for raw materials and its willingness to invest in Africa to fuel this demand should be embraced, he said.

President Jacob Zuma recently concluded a trip to China along with a large delegation of cabinet ministers and leaders from business and civil society, including Davies himself. It was the last in a series of diplomatic missions the President made to all four of the BRIC emerging economies this year – having earlier visited Brazil, Russia and India. Davies argued that these overtures are indicative of the realignment of SA’s interests with a changing global order.

Africa’s growth over the last ten years paralleled China’s with a differential of 0.919972, the smallest of margins, he said. This was no coincidence, considering China is the single largest foreign investor and deployer of capital to African economies. Both are inextricably linked.

However, he added that despite these moves, SA needed a more coordinated response to changing global realities. “We need to show the ‘vision thing’ and some leadership,” he said. “How do we as a country, as organisations, and as individuals rethink our worlds?”

Davies argued that the rise of the emerging economies had been unleashed, not caused by, the ‘Western Financial Crisis’, and stressed that power is changing hands. “Europe is something of an old-age-home,” he said wryly. “In the next five years the Eurozone may unravel. This is not a banking crisis; it is a discrediting of an entire model….There will be profound implications. This crisis is not going anywhere soon so sell your euros!”

Photo: David Ansara

Wits Debate: How should the media be regulated?

2010-09-07T21:58:00.003+02:00

On Monday 24 August I attended a public debate at the Wits Great Hall. The discussion concerned the Media Appeals Tribunal that the ANC has proposed as an alternative to the current self-regulatory system.

Speakers included:

Jackson Mthembu - ANC spokesperson and Chairman of the ANC National Executive Committee sub-committee on Communications
Lumko Mtimde - CEO of the Media Development and Diversity Agency
Thabo Leshilo - Chairperson SANEF Media Freedom Committee)
Jeremy Cronin - SACP Deputy General Secretary (absent due to illness)
Joe Thloloe - Press Ombudsman
Prof. Anton Harber - Head of Wits Journalism

Jackson Mthembu argued that although the instruments of media self-regulation were in place, such as the Press Ombudsman and the Press Council, there had never been any influencing of these instruments by "ordinary" South Africans. He criticised the fact that these organs were products of, and accountable to, the media industry itself. He instisted that the public could only have its say via "an independent body created through a transparent and public platform." Following the Polokwane resolutions, the ANC would consider the possibility of a statutory tribunal to which wronged citizens could lodge their complaints. In the past, he said, the only recourse available to those who had been maligned or defamed in the press was to have the Ombud order the paper to issue a retraction or an apology. However, Mthembu said that the Ombudsman or "Bra Joe" had no ability to issue a fine, thus limiting his effectiveness. "Can he himself be exonerated from the influence of the meedia when he himself is being paid by the media, when his offices are next to the editor's forum when the he depends on the whole structure and edifice of the media itself." Mthembu stated that such controls were designed to promote media freedom and not to muzzle it, but he failed to elaborate on what this actually meant.

Lumko Mtimde echoed the call for a public enquiry into an "independent" statutory appeals tribunal. He called for the "modalities to be debated," while also adding that media indignation at the proposal was disproportionate and needless. He pointed to other similar investigations in the UK and New Zealand, which he said revealed that self-regulation was not sacrosanct. Maybe South Africa could show the world the way in terms of such a statutory body, he argued.

Joe Thloloe pointed out that the UK report that Mr Mtimde had referenced actually said that self-regulation, while imperfect, was a far preferable system to statutory regulation. The principal of self-regulation was also maintained in New Zealand. The UK parliamentary sub-committee in question suggested improvements to self-regulation, but did not demandthat the system be replaced, as the ANC was now doing. "You are trying to reinvent the wheel - at what cost?" he asked rhetorically, "The constitution says that everyone has the right to freedom of expression. You can't tinker with that right unless you amend the constitution. If you tinker with freedom of expression you tinker with the very foundation of our democracy."

He concluded on a defiant note, taking issue with the threatening manner in which the ANC had initiated the debate, as if the MAT were a fait accompli: "We are prepared to review what we do, but for heaven's sake don't put a gun to our temple and ask us to cooperate in our own... I nearly used the word 'rape'."

Thabo Leshilo crticised the proposals, saying that the MAT has been in the works since the Polokwane conference in 2007. "That's two years and 9 months; that is an awful lot of time. By now we should have some idea of what this animal should look like." Leshilo also said that the choice of advocates for the MAT had been awful, as they had revealed that the real reason the ruling party desired tighter regulation lay in the fact that the media was sewing disunity in the ANC.

Anton Harber agreed that newspapers must be accountable, but he insisted that holding the press to account was the duty of peers, readers, the public itself, the courts, the law, and the Constitution, and not politicians. He also made a plea for the public to recognise good journalism, instead of merely trashing it. The press was one of the principal areas where government can be held to account, especially for exposing corruption. He called for the role and funding of the media to be debated, but stressed that this should not mean an increase in regulation. In this regard, he also noted that there is little evidence to suggest that regulation and journalistic quality are linked.

Illustration: John Dyson

Post-election landscape in SA

2009-06-03T00:47:00.007+02:00

This is a re-worked version of an article I wrote for the London-based expatriate magazine, SA Promo. (Issue 25, June 2009) See the online version of the magazine here. You can "turn" the pages by clicking on the top right hand corner. This piece appears on pg 8, and another article I wrote on Jacob Zuma follows on. The sub-editing and formatting are really impressive and I think this little mag is a fantastic resource for those of us living abroad.

The general election of April 22nd has come and gone, and apart from a few administrative glitches, was a free and transparent process. Notwithstanding the continued dominance of the African National Congress, and some heated rhetoric from all parties, the success of the poll was an indication of the vitality of the democratic process. It was also hard-fought, with South Africans turning out to vote in large numbers and with a great deal of enthusiasm.

After a long and controversial path to power, Jacob Zuma is finally President of South Africa. Although winning by a convincing majority, the ANC failed to capture two thirds of the vote, narrowly missing out with 65.9%. This means the ruling party are unable to make constitutional amendments without the support of other parties.

President Zuma

The most interesting developments were in the opposition. Major gains were made by the Democratic Alliance, which retains its status as the official opposition after securing 16,5% of the vote. In addition to winning nearly a million new votes on the national level, the DA was also able to capture the Western Cape outright. This is the first time since 1994 that any party has won the province without the need for a coalition and was largely due to the switching loyalty of Coloured voters away from the ANC.

Helen Zille is now Premier and this gives the party she leads the chance to demonstrate its ability to govern a province. However, the start of Zille's tenure has been undermined by her choice of an all-male cabinet that has caused a rather unfortunate row over the ever-important problem of gender discrimination in the country. This was probably strategically unwise and sent the wrong message (although nothing compared to the hateful bile being spewed forth by the ANCYL). Overall, there is still a long way to go before the DA can challenge the dominance of the ANC at the national level.

Premier Zille

The Congress of the People (COPE), after a promising start, has proved disappointing (but resilient). Although many pundits predicted COPE would score between 20 – 30% of the vote, it only managed 7,42%. I did not speculate openly about how much it would gain, but certainly my thought was that it would at least breach the 10% mark. I held my nose and voted COPE and tried to argue that as a splinter of the ANC, it was the only party that would truly be able to challenge the dominant party in the foreseeable future.

But as the renaissance of the likes of Tokyo Sexwale and Matthews Phosa shows, it pays to stay within the ANC and bide your time until the balance of power shifts in your favour. Both were persona non grata during the Mbeki administration and were even accused, along with Cyril Ramaphosa, of plotting a coup to overthrow the President (goodness, what a paranoid leader he was). Now these men are back on top. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and S'bu Ndebele were also big Mbeki acolytes and have since repositioned themselves and are now in the Zuma cabinet.

Yes, we kinda-sorta can!

COPE failed for a number of reasons. It suffered from a nasty leadership tussle as well as a tragic lack of electioneering in the townships and rural areas. It has also struggled to shake its association with the failings of Thabo Mbeki, whose recall as President last September was the catalyst for the formation of the party. That said, COPE succeeded in drawing support from across the racial spectrum and has eclipsed the DA as the official opposition in five of the nine provinces. It is still early days for South Africa’s newest political party, but the drawing board will have to be wiped clean I'm afraid.

African National Congress: 65,9% - 264 seats
Democratic Alliance: 16,66% - 67seats
Congress of the People: 7,42% - 30 seats
Inkatha Freedom Party: 4,55% - 18 seats
Others: +/- 5% - 21 seats

Another change is that many of the smaller, interest-specific parties suffered significant losses. Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats, and Bantu Holomisa’s United Democratic Movement have run aground, winning about 1% of the vote each. Although nothing has materialised yet, both leaders have been rumoured to be considering joining either COPE or the DA. The Minority Front, Freedom Front Plus, ACDP, PAC and AZAPO have all badly haemorrhaged support and their future looks increasingly tenuous.

Overall, a successful free election in one of the Continent's most important countries. However, elections are not the only indicator of the vitality of a democracy. The ability of the elected leadership to submit to the independence of the institutions of state and to obey the rule of law will be just as important as a well-run and clean election.

-

Thank you to SA Promo for giving me permission to reproduce this work.

South Africa: Which way forward?

2009-06-01T12:56:00.005+02:00

I am helping to host this public forum on South Africa after the elections and if you are in London please come along. Entrance is free and the speakers are from interesting and eclectic backgrounds. I will be writing a report on the event for those unable to attend.

-

The Commonwealth Journalists Association (UK) invites you to

a discussion on

SOUTH AFRICA: WHICH WAY FORWARD?

Newly-elected President Jacob Zuma has pledged to defend the liberal democratic values of South Africa’s constitution, but his rise to power owes much to the frustrations of the poor and the loyalty of his supporters in the intelligence and security networks. This panel discussion will explore an emerging contest between the traditions of the governing African National Congress and new economic and political forces vying for influence in Africa.

Date: 4 June 2009

Venue: The Hellenic Centre, 16-18 Paddington Street, Marylebone, London W1

Time: 6-8pm
(followed by drinks)

Chair:

Kaye Whiteman: Writer, journalist and former editor of West Africa magazine

Speakers:

MARK ASHURST: Director, Africa Research Institute.
AUDREY BROWN:. Producer/Presenter of Focus on Africa and Network Africa, BBC.
JOHN BATTERSBY: UK Country Manager, International Marketing Council of South Africa and former Editor, The Sunday Independent.
ONYEKACHI WAMBU: Nigerian journalist and television producer.

Kindly be seated by 5:45

RSVP
Rita Payne
T: 07834 845240
E: ritapayne@hotmail.com

De Klerk 'cautiously optimistic' about Zuma

2009-05-26T16:21:00.001+02:00

Last week Robert Krause and I published an article in the expatriate newspaper, The South African (19 May 2009). Below is the report we wrote on a speech FW de Klerk gave to the Royal Commonwealth Society (12 May 2009). De Klerk gave a measured analysis of the current state of politics in South Africa following the elections and there was plenty of vigorous discussion afterward. Congratulations to the Commonwealth Club for putting on a successful event.

Read the full edition of The South African in digital format here. (our article is on pg. 5)

AND

Download the full text on the FW de Klerk Foundation Website.

"The reality is that Mr. Zuma will not be acceding
to the presidency in the happiest of circumstances"

Former President F.W. De Klerk was in London this week, and he expressed cautious optimism about the future of South Africa after the election of President Jacob Zuma. The 1993 Nobel Peace Prize laureate described Zuma as a pragmatic, non-ideological leader, but warned South Africans to be vigilant in protecting the constitution and the integrity of democratic institutions.

Addressing a packed hall at the Commonwealth Society Club on Tuesday 12 May, De Klerk said South Africans today have “much to celebrate”. The April 22nd polls constituted the fourth orderly transfer of power in line with the constitution, he said. “The election showed our young democracy is resilient and adds to the achievement of the past fifteen years,” de Klerk said. He also spoke highly of the long period of economic growth under former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s stewardship, which led to the emergence of the black middle class. Over 3 million houses have been built, and state allowances extended to 13 million children, he added.

The emergence of the Congress of the People (COPE) also offered the prospect of a strengthened non-racial opposition to hold government to account, he said. Similarly, the victory of the Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape was important as it “broke the monopoly on power at the provincial level.”

However, de Klerk lamented that South Africa still has serious problems, such as the world’s highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS with much time lost in tackling the crisis due to Thabo Mbeki’s AIDS denialism. The country is also burdened with an incredibly high level of social inequality, which de Klerk ascribed to the high rate of unemployment and poor education.

In his speech De Klerk identified two major trends in the African National Congress that were cause for concern. Firstly there is the tendency of the ruling party to advance its own interests at the expense of state institutions. Second is the desire for the left wing of the Tripartite Alliance to depart from the Washington Consensus orthodoxy, which De Klerk credits for the growth South Africa has enjoyed until recently, when the global economic slowdown began to impact negatively on the domestic economy.

De Klerk feared that the circumstances in which Zuma’s charges were dropped by the National Prosecuting Authority meant that “in the future the ruling party will decide who would be prosecuted”. Equally worrying were the attacks by senior ANC leaders on the courts and the supremacy of the constitution, the most recent example of which was Zuma’s recent statement that the powers of the Constitutional Court should be reviewed and that the justices of the Court were “not God”.

De Klerk also claimed that if the South African Communist Party and COSATU succeeded in getting the ANC to adopt redistributive policies it would be a disaster for South Africa which would “kill the goose that laid the golden egg”. There was no middle path between ‘orthodox’ and statist economic directions, he said, and President Zuma will eventually have to choose which direction is best.

Despite these concerns, De Klerk, said he was optimistic that South Africa would ‘confound the prophets of doom.’ One reason for his optimism was his assessment of Zuma as a good listener and primarily a pragmatist not driven by ideological agendas. Then there was his choice of cabinet which was inclusive. For example conservative Afrikaners’ interests were represented by new deputy minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front + [Ed: see my interview with Mulder before the elections]. Key portfolios such as finance and housing were in the hands of moderates. Trevor Manuel retained his influence on policy through his appointment as head of the National Planning Commission, a position de Klerk likened to almost that of a Prime Minister in the scope of its powers.

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Photo by David Ansara

Aung San Suu Kyi - Please call, fax or email the Burmese Embassy

2009-05-18T12:36:00.007+02:00

The message below arrived in my inbox this morning from the Social Justice Coalition and I felt it necessary to give it some more air time. I have blogged and published an article on the injustices in Burma on previous occasions - and particularly South Africa's response to the situation there. This is a small, but meaningful step that we can all take as citizens of democratic nations to resist authoritarianism. Our brothers and sisters in Myanmar do not enjoy the most basic freedoms; let us at least show our solidarity with them, even if the Generals won't necessarily listen.

It also sends a message to the new Jacob Zuma-led government that the era of appeasing dictatorial regimes in the name of some ill-defined 'national interest' must end.

Dear All

Aung San Suu Kyi has been imprisoned without visitors in her home (pictured above) in Burma since 1990 by a military dictatorship. In 1990, the National Democracy League won a general election by a large majority and the military refused to hand over power and instead crushed the National Democracy League and all political dissent.

On 13 May 2009, an American protester (John William Yeattaw) swam across the river that passed her home and despite being ill, she has been put on trial. 61 year old Suu Kyi now faces imprisonment. Please call the Burmese (Myanmar) junta's embassy in Pretoria: Tel: 27-12-341 2556 or 341 2557 Fax: 27-12-341 2553 and to demand freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy in Burma. or Email: mepta@myanemb-sa.net

Just use your phone or email today. Send the message

“I demand the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma as well as the restoration of democracy."

Support a human rights-based International Relations policy. Build Global Solidarity for freedom and social justice.

Zackie Achmat

To get onto the Social Justice Coalition's activist mailing list email:

ACTIVIST@socialjusticecoalition.org

Or to sign up visit:

http://list.socialjusticecoalition.org/mailman/listinfo/activist

Post Scriptum:

I found it interesting that there is an embassy for the Myanmar junta in SA. I still think it is worth preserving diplomatic ties with these countries, despite their terrible abuses. You need to maintain access and you cannot do that if you force representatives out. For this reason I disagreed with COSATU's call in Jan/Feb of this year for the expulsion of the Israeli diplomatic mission.

Forum: Northern Ireland - what future for peace?

2009-05-15T02:11:00.005+02:00

Since arriving in the United Kingdom I've had the privilege of attending an audience participation show called Forum, broadcast weekly on the international news service Press TV. I always try to ask a question as I think it is an excellent opportunity to engage with some leading thinkers and opinion-makers. You can see my question in the clip above or if you are interested in exploring the issue more you can download the full length episode here.

In this broadcast of 24 March 2009 the panel discusses the impact of British involvement in Northern Ireland and Ireland. The debate got pretty heated, with some vicious comments coming from the audience invoking the imperialistic behaviour of the British government stretching back 300 years.

As a South African I am keenly aware of Britain's colonial past and I do not romanticise the expansive Empire one bit. In Northern Ireland, British militarism was in many instances just as oppressive as in faraway Africa. The events of Bloody Sunday in 1972, where 27 civil rights activists were gunned down was one of many atrocities in this region. But the Irish Republican Army also committed some shocking acts of violent terror during the Troubles. It was an awful mess and the cyclical nature of the conflict left both sides morally compromised.

The pannelists seemed to agree that the framework for peace in the region was lasting and sustainable (despite recent sporadic violence by bittereinders calling themselves the 'Real IRA'). My question to the them concerned something greater than merely a cessation of hostilities. I was wondering if any attempts are ever made to reconcile the Protestant and Irish Catholic communities.

The answer I got was that a TRC-type model could never happen, as the wounds are still too raw. I disagree in that this process needs to take place while victims are still alive to tell their stories. So much of people's hurt comes from years of being ignored and you need to give voice to this anger, even if it makes you uncomfortable to hear it out in the open. The attainment of complete 'truth' is not as important here as acknowledging that an injustice was done and compensating victims for their losses.

Trotting through life

2009-04-29T02:08:00.006+02:00

What I talk about when I talk about running
Haruki Murakami
Harvill Secker, 2008

In parts memoir, meditation on writing and travelogue, but mostly a reflection on the significance of running. Murakami is a powerful creative mind, and where he gets his power is from the road.

The author of Kafka on the Shore and Norweigian Wood started running aged thirty-three to overcome the unhealthy lifestyle he had fallen into before committing himself to being a full-time novelist. Since then he has run an average of six miles a day, six times a week. He has shuffled his way through marathons (one a year, every year), ultra-marathons and triathlons in settings as diverse as Boston, Tokyo and Hawaii.

His transformation from chain-smoking night-owl into this stubborn roadie is remarkable, as suddenly a slightly disorderly life becomes disciplined and rigorous. Early to bed, five am rise, work, then run. This new lifestyle alienated his friends, who no longer saw him at night as he became increasingly stoical, but that was what he had to do in order to be able to stretch his mind and mine the depths of his imagination. The hardship of the long distances gave Murakami the physical awareness which allowed him to flourish as an artist.

Just as meaningless as it is to put one foot in front of the other day after day, no matter how wet the surface or freezing the air, it is also how life is. That is what it takes to produce anything of value in this world - one set of conquests after another - and that is what running taught him.

What makes this so enjoyable is that this isn't a treatise on how to be healthy or even necessarily Murakami insisting that running is great and everyone should give it a whirl. He says this is what I do and it isn't the thing for everyone. But everyone needs their 'thing' the point is not so much running, but what gives you joy and suffering at the same time. We all need that.

We also need escape. People ask Murakami what he thinks about most when he runs. Nothing, he says, "I run in a void".

I have to admit, (despite Mr. Murakami's insistence that it is ungentlemanly for a man to reveal how he keeps fit), I share his passion for the sport (I, like Murakami, have never been much of a gentleman to start off with anyway). I read this book in a day - fittingly on the day of the London Marathon - a spring afternoon of incredible warmth and beauty. So inspired was I while reading it, that I grabbed my running shoes, packed a bag and hit the asphalt, my book packed without its dust jacket to stop it from scuffing. I ran from park to park, pausing, taking my shirt off, and whipping through chapter after chapter of this marvelous, reflective essay. I would force myself to stop reading, then I would run some more.

The connectedness one feels with the surrounds, the inwardness and solitude that runners crave, Murukami understands these things and puts them onto the page. If ever my legs were crippled in an accident I would return to this book again and again to grieve for the beauty of roadrunning and to celebrate it. This is a most fitting tribute to the madness that is running.

Mark Shuttleworth voting in London

2009-04-24T00:16:00.003+02:00

QPQ talks to Mark Shuttleworth. Techie, philanthropist, Ubuntu pioneer, Afronaught and expat.

ACDP Chief Whip on special voting day in London

2009-04-22T12:48:00.005+02:00

ACDP Chief Whip and MP Cheryllyn Dudley was in London on Wednesday 15th April 2009 to observe the special voting day. She talks about the state of the opposition in South Africa, and faith-based politics in the country. She also examines the efficacy of the institution of parliament. If you can't view the video below click here.

I was quite impressed by Ms. Dudley as she was thoughtful and friendly. However, one problem I had with what she said was with her definition of secularism. She claims that "South Africa is not technically a secular state."

It is worth noting what the constitution says about religion at this point. Chapter 2, Section 15 concerning freedom of religion, belief and opinion says that:

Everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion.
Religious observances may be conducted at state or state-aided institutions, provided that

those observances follow rules made by the appropriate public authorities;
they are conducted on an equitable basis; and
attendance at them is free and voluntary.

This section does not prevent legislation recognising
1. marriages concluded under any tradition, or a system of religious, personal or family law; or
2. systems of personal and family law under any tradition, or adhered to by persons professing a particular religion.
Recognition in terms of paragraph (a) must be consistent with this section and the other provisions of the Constitution.

...as well as Chapter 2, section 31, concerning cultural, religious and linguistic communities:

Persons belonging to a cultural, religious or linguistic community may not be denied the right, with other members of that community

to enjoy their culture, practise their religion and use their language; and
to form, join and maintain cultural, religious and linguistic associations and other organs of civil society.

The rights in subsection (1) may not be exercised in a manner inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights.

Here the constitutional order makes generous provisions for the protection of religion but that is altogether different from saying that the country is guided by religious doctrine. This is not total. For instance, the reason we don't sell alcohol on Sundays reflects a sentiment that drinking on the holy day is wrong. Or the fact that Christmas is a public holiday while Ramadan isn't shows the dominance of the Christian tradition. So there is a spectrum, but we are still on the secular end of that spectrum, because religious considerations for the most part do not guide governmental decisions.

Secularism requires that principles of a particular faith should not be the foundation of the institutional or legal apparatus. But it still allows for freedom of religion and association. For example, many Christians feel strongly against abortion, yet it is legal in our society. They might prohibit the practice among their followers but they cannot will that prohibition to be universal merely by referencing scripture. The nature of secular democracy is that you have to balance competing needs and in this case the rights of women to adequate reproductive health outweighs the moral indignation that many people of faith may have against aborting unborn babies.

If, as Dudley says, 80% of South Africans are Christians it also means 20% are not, so a significant minority would choose a different set of spiritual convictions or none whatsoever. Thankfully she does emphasise that the separation of church and state not only protects the state from the church, but also the church from the state (ditto for the mosque and the synagogue).

Dudley says: "...for us it is very important that the institution of the state and the institution of the church are kept separate in that they have very different roles and different functions." She goes on to say that they want to be free to practice their religion without government imposing their own restrictions and rules. Sounds like a ringing endorsement of secularism to me.

Watch the video to see the full context of her statements and judge for yourself.

Pieter Mulder (FF+) on voting abroad

2009-04-20T17:21:00.006+02:00

Above is an interview I conducted with Dr. Pieter Mulder, the leader of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) in Trafalgar Square, London. Here South Africans living in the United Kingdom were casting their votes in the 2009 National Elections. Mulder and his party played a significant role in agitating for the revision of the Electoral Act on the grounds that the legislation was unconstitutional (the original law prevented a broad category of citizens living abroad from voting). I don't support the FF+, but I was very grateful to them - and the many others - who organised around this issue and agitated for the change.

Although the FF+ tends to draw its support from mostly Afrikaans white conservatives, consider what the white right looked like in the early nineties and how different the FF+ is from the Nationalist and Conservative Parties of yesteryear. We all bemoan the proliferation of opposition parties under our Proportional Representation (PR) system, but one of its benefits is that it enabled a wide range of interests to gain representation. This increased the legitimacy of parliamentary democracy for those citizens who may have felt excluded by a first-past-the-post system where they wouldn't have stood a chance in hell of gaining a seat in parliament.

So the next time you find yourself chuckling at the lilly-white election posters of the FF+ remember the moderating effect that fifteen years of democracy have had on the party and its supporters and how it is far better, in the words of Linden Johnson, to have them inside the tent pissing out rather than outside the tent pissing in.

Classic FM News broadcasts on voting abroad

2009-04-19T02:14:00.016+02:00

On Wednesday the 15th of April 2009 I had the privilege of reporting for Classic FM from Trafalgar Square, where expat South Africans turned out in their droves to vote in the national elections. This was a significant moment, as the rights of those living temporarily outside of the country would have been severely compromised had they not been allowed to vote, as the Electoral Act then stipulated. Thankfully some public-minded citizens took it upon themselves to take the government to court over the matter and we were allowed to exercise our democratic

citizenship.

Classic FM News - SA Election Coverage - 11am - 15 April 2009.mp3 -

Classic FM News - Election Coverage - 1pm - 15 .04.2009

In the reports (two of which are embedded here) I paint a mental picture of the crowds snaking through the square as well as the process of voting. I was in and out in about an hour and fifteen minutes and although the logistics of the event were certainly challenging, this was clearly a bogus excuse not to conduct the overseas voting. It really wasn't that difficult to organise. Below is an image of an orderly and efficient bank of voting desks where officials would scratch out names of those on the voters roll:

I was very impressed by how well the whole process was managed, and I am very thankful to the IEC officials and everyone involved who helped make the process that much easier.

I held my nose and voted COPE, and my ballot paper is depicted below for those who may doubt my 'allegiances' - however flimsy they may be. I hesitated for a while before dropping the envelope into the box and as did so I said to the official, "I can't believe I just voted for those guys."

Something to note is that it is Terror Lekota and not Mvume Dandala, the Presidential Candidate, whose picture is on the sheet. I mean really. If in some alternate reality COPE actually won, do you think Terror would allow Dandala to become the national president? Somehow I don't think so. What then is the point of even having a presidential candidate I ask you, if his picture doesn't feature?

My friend Lexi's painted thumb proving she cast her vote:

I also took my video camera along and, time permitting, I will post some of the content on YouTube. Stay tuned for more on the elections as we build up to election day back home.

QPQ overseas election coverage on Classic FM tomorrow

2009-04-14T13:52:00.007+02:00

I will most likely be reporting from South Africa House tomorrow morning for Classic FM, where I worked as an intern from January to March this year. Apart from the occasional Sarah Brighton song, Classic FM is by far the best listen in Gauteng; mostly because of their excellent news coverage and platform shows.

I have been asked by my former colleagues to provide insight from the SA foreign mission in London about the efficiency of the process and the feeling on the ground. Voting starts at 07h00 GMT and hopefully I can get on the phone back home within about an hour. So listen out for QPQ tomorrow morning on the hourly bulletins on 102.7 FM. If you live outside Joburg you can plug into live streaming by visiting www.classic.co.za.

Classic FM ran this report today, which highlights just how many people are going to vote tomorrow. It's a lot, so get there as early as possible:

Some 16,240 South Africans living abroad are expected to cast their votes tomorrow. Of these, 7427 voters are registered to vote at the South African mission in London. This makes it the largest polling station in the elections. Overseas voters must be registered and produce their ID and passport to be allowed to cast their vote. Voting stations at South African missions abroad will be open from 7am to 7pm. There are 124 South African missions abroad.

SA expats vote tomorrow: NB information

2009-04-14T13:08:00.005+02:00

Tomorrow I will be making my way to the South African High Commission in Trafalgar Square to cast my ballot. The absentee vote was something that had to be pried out of the jaws of the ANC government by our superb Constitutional Court.

I'm sorry it had to take a judicial order and that the government came up with such cynical explanations as to why they couldn't allow the short-term expatriates to chose who would lead their country. But the silver lining was that it showed the durability of the courts and the executive's (reluctant) acceptance of its legitimacy.

The IEC and the SA mission in London have released some important information about tomorrow's voting process. You will have to bring your VEC10 form, passport, identification document. You are also urged to bring along your VEC1 form, which can be downloaded on the IEC website.

If you are away from a printer today you needn't fear, as VEC1 forms will be available on election day. However, I strongly suggest you print out this form to quicken the voting process tomorrow. Lets meet the IEC halfway on this one as they are doing their bit to ensure we exercise our democratic right. Lets also show the nation how much balooney the government was talking when they said the logistics would be too much to manage by ensuring we vote quickly and efficiently.

See you there!

Hold your nose and vote COPE

2009-04-14T00:19:00.007+02:00

It gives me a cold, hollow feeling to say this, but I am going to vote for the Congress of the People in the upcoming national elections. The reasons for this are several, and if you allow me, I will elaborate on why I am taking such a banal course of action this time around.

But first, here are some very valid reasons not to vote for COPE:

Their presidential candidate is a religious leader, Mvume Dandala, who has no executive experience, has never even been an MP and who seems to be disconnected from the political mood of the country. What's more, he was placed there by bickering opponents who were unable to assume the principal position for themselves and thus settled on him as a compromise candidate. Why they didn't just use Shilowa, a flawed but pragmatic leader with a governance track record is beyond my understanding.
The movement is largely made up of the beneficiaries of the Mbeki era, who are indignant at their loss of power and patronage. They have been discarded by Zuma's ANC and there was no other course of action left for them to take. They have big egos and are associated with a president who manhandled democratic institutions and manipulated the administration of justice, a president who ignored the AIDS epidemic and who racialised the discourse of South Africa and how it confronts its problems.
That name. It is every sub-editors dream. Who thought of COPE as an acronym? Honestly! It says, "All we want to do is manage, we don't care too much for dreams of a better future, merely on how to stumble through the present."
They've had an incoherent election strategy, with no clear path to power and a seemingly dwindling support base.

Mbhazima Shilowa will not be running for President.
(Photo by David Ansara)

So why, considering all of the above, should you vote for this muddled party?

They are a splinter of the ruling African National Congress, which has dominated the political process since 1994. COPE was born amid the ashes of the factional infighting of the ruling party. They might not pose an immediate electoral challenge to the ANC, but COPE's very existence represents a symbolic threat to an organisation far too comfortable with power.
It says to people who fought in the struggle: "Being in opposition is okay" as it makes a legitimate claim on the fight against apartheid. This counts for a lot, as many opposition parties are easily dismissed (sometimes unfairly) as representatives of minority interests (e.g. DA) or as complicit in the administrative apparatus of the ancien régime (e.g. Holomisa's UDM, or Buthelezi's IFP). Simply, COPE offers a credible alternative that could potentially undermine ANC hegemony in South Africa in the long term.
Although some commentators have smeared the Congress of the People for being a party of elitists, there seems to be a focus in their agenda on the plight of the rural poor. Potential exists here for both organisations to coalesce around an urban/rural axis, which could help to conscientise people about the persistence of the class stratifications that exist in our country. Zuma's base is among urban blacks, and traditional conservatives; maybe COPE could capture another sector of society that is often overlooked.
Hopefully this will persuade the electorate to eventually vote according to policy and ideas rather than as an expression of their identity or as part of a nostalgic loyalty for the moral clarity of the anti-apartheid days.

I trust this clarifies why I will be marking my X next to the face of the good reverend. This is certainly going to be an election of great significance and COPE will live or die by these polls.

Are we brainwashed by advertising?

2009-04-13T23:48:00.006+02:00

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Since arriving in the UK I've participated regularly in an audience discussion show entitled Off the Cuff. The programme is broadcast weekly on the Iranian international English news service channel, Press TV (channel 515 on Sky on Saturdays from 19h33 - 20h00 GMT). The topics usually concern some item of public contention, such as the war in Iraq, the effects of capitalism or the limits of personal freedom and the role of the state. I am over-complicating it though - it is simply an opportunity for people from all walks of life to engage with one another on issues they feel are important.

My first week on the show was very interesting indeed. Here the audience was asked how deeply they feel the media, and the advertising industry in particular, influences our consumer behaviour and dictates our lifestyles, preferences and needs.

I didn't fully get round to my point (owing to the fast-paced nature of the show and my own bombastic speaking style), but I think my message is clear. Certainly the advertising industry is guilty of a lot of sins. For instance, statements that downplay or ignore the harmful effects of the products they sell, such as greasy food or alcohol are clearly objectionable. Also, advertisers promote a view of the world which says that only through the attainment of vast personal wealth and by purchasing items you don't really need, can you be happy.

These are fairly common objections, and an industry such as this should be subjected to the proper regulation because its influence is great. Content that actively promotes a prejudiced view of a minority group or uses hate speech or which is totally misleading should suffer appropriate sanction. But we also have agency and choice and are not the "blank slates" the ad execs sometimes think we are. Can one teaspoon of detergent really wash a thousand dishes? I don't think so. Most educated and discerning people can come to a conclusion independently of the inputs the media feeds us.

"The medium is the message". Another frequent adage. A swish website, a viral marketing campaign and the use of repetition and catch phrases all help to push a product. The above qualities were all evident in the ground-breaking Obama presidential campaign. They helped to amplify Obama's message, but without the charisma and intellect that underpinned his candidacy he wouldn't have won. Similarly, the sloganeering and fear mongering of McCain (and especially his vice presidential nominee) weren't enough to hide the inherent contradictions of a moderate trying to pass himself off as a conservative right-winger.

To put it colloquially: if your product is shite, it won't sell, because word gets around and people see through transparent rubbish.

At the top of this post you will see an abridged version of this episode which I edited to show the salient points (with my own comment at the end). Click here to download the full episode onto your computer from Press TV's website (Original broadcast on the 28th of March 2009).

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Thanks to Pete Engelbrecht for editing the clip and to Press TV for the original material.

Slices of guilt

2009-04-10T22:05:00.006+02:00

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Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(Penguin, 1981) 122 p.

A small, anonymous Latin American town. Innocence lost or squandered. An accused who knows not what he has done nor the reason he is being hunted.

The woman is a new bride, Angela Vicario, who is discovered to have lost her virginity - shock! - before committing to marriage. To avoid humiliation she accuses Santiago Nasser, of stealing her most sacred gift. The narrative draws inevitably towards Nasser's death, at the hands of Angela's butchering twin brothers; and the reader is but a powerless spectator.

This is a story so revolting it is difficult to look away. So silly in its violence. How could a town be swept up in this meaningless witch hunt? The townsfolk try to explain from each of their perspectives, and each seeks to rationalise the death in their own way. They are bystanders but just as culpable as the murderers themselves. As they received adequate warning but did nothing, theirs is a moral omission.

I don't know if Marquez if culpable either. I want to blame him for his depictions, but I can't, he is hiding behind the protective veil of 'the author'. C'mon Gabriel man, this dying is a serious business, and you make light of it at every turn!

[For an excellent exposition of the changes in style from Marquez's earlier to later works and the similarities to Kafka, see this post at (Mis)readings.]

QPQ now broadcasting from London

2009-04-09T03:13:00.001+02:00

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As some of you may know, I have moved to the United Kingdom. I am now based in London in a little suburb called Kilburn in the north-west of the city. I was one of the last batch to be issued the two-year working holiday visa, an opportunity that could not be bypassed.

Some things I have noticed about England, which I really enjoy:

Public transport is excellent. I feel a part of the city, rather than just passing through, as I do when I am in Joburg. The glum disposition of the passengers on the tube may be notorious, but the sense of public ownership of the trains is very high and the undergound is like the circulatory system of the city. SA would be a substantively better place to live if it could secure a safe and efficient transport system.
A relative lack of crime concerns. In the UK feel freed up from the nagging insecurity which is so much a part of daily life back home. It is really quite unfortunate that we have to live that way, as our country is such a beautiful and dynamic place. I cannot say I have been directly affected by violent crime (I have however been burgled before), but the knowledge that the institutions of the state are losing their ability to maintain law and order profoundly affects your own sense of civic responsibility and undermines your trust in strangers. Not good for a divided society trying to heal the wounds of the past.
True multiculturalism. Although there are some genuine barriers to freedom for people of minority groups, this is a country (or should I say a city) at ease with its plural character. I live in a neighbourhood filled with Poles, Indians, Jamaicans, Nigerians, Muslims and Jews and the melting pot of cultures is a fascinating spectacle to observe.
The proliferation of fine museums. They're the best in the world and they're free!

The downsides are of course:

The heightened sense of individualism and an atomised culture. At times the city can feel cold and impersonal.
The state is far more involved in your life here. There are a proliferation of CCTV cameras and one is constantly aware of being scrutinised. So the freedom to do and act as you please is limited by an administrative apparatus that won't so much as let you pee on a tree.
Credit crunch, financial crisis, recession, depression. Call it what you will, it's biting hard and people's livelihoods are at risk.

So QPQ is will continue to be a feature on the blogosphere, but with less of a parochial focus on South Africa. I love the place, but the off the cuff responses to the next crisis of the day can get repetitive and somewhat exhausting. So I am going to write when I feel like it and not be dictated by the caprices of the news agenda. I will also venture out of the strict boundaries of the blog's original subject mandate.

QPQ on YouTube

2009-03-20T15:18:00.002+02:00

I have been using YouTube to post interviews with politicians, authors and social commentators over the last few months. Unfortunately I no longer have a dictaphone so I won't be doing any more of these for the foreseeable future. However, I thought it fitting to direct readers to Quid Pro Quo's YouTube account for the sake of posterity.

Click here to see my account. Its called QuidProQuoZA.

Here you can listen to interviews with Blade Nzimande, Helen Zille, Jeremy Gordin, Mo Shaik, Philip Dexter, Smuts Ngonyama, Dennis Davis, Mamphela Ramphele, Pippa Green and Jeremy Gordin. There are also a few video clips I took of politicians singing and dancing at various events, like the relaunch of the Democratic Aliance and the SA National Convention, the genesis of what is now known as the Congress of the People.

I initially started using YouTube as a way of bypassing the rather silly absence of an audio function on Blogger. Who would have thought that it would be so difficult to upload a simple mp3 on one's blog? I got around this little problem in five steps:

Convert the audio file of the interview from .wav to .mp3
Create a PowerPoint presentation with an image of the interviewee and implant the sound file in the presentation.
Convert the Powerpoint presentation into a MPEG4 video.
Upload this file to YouTube.
Embed the code from the YouTube video into the html of my blogpost.

It sounds easy enough but it was actually a rather tedious thing to perform. But for anybody who was wondering how I did it, there it is. Another benefit of this method is that it increased the exposure of the material to YouTube users who would search for, say, "Mo Shaik", would see the 'video' then go to my site to read the interview transcript. Hopefully they would stick around and explore.

Robert Krause - Israel/Palestine: Reflections of South Africans

2009-03-11T01:56:00.004+02:00

This article is in response to Anthony Posner's 'Freedom of Expression? Legitimate Criticism?' (9 March 2009). Both pieces form part of QPQ's ongoing dialogue that draws on the perspective of South Africans concerned with the conflict in the Middle East. For more in the series see here.

To crit is legit

By Robert Krause

In suggesting that the bulk of public criticism of Israel in South Africa falls outside the bounds of legitimate criticism, Anthony Posner relies on a number of premises. These can be divided into two groups: contentions of principle (what constitutes legitimate criticism) and factual claims (how the media covers the Israeli-Palestinian issue).

The first issue of principle is whether criticism of Zionism is legitimate. While Posner does not offer an account of what constitutes legitimate criticism of Israel, it is fair to surmise that he does not regard criticism of Israel that includes criticism of its official ideology to be legitimate. It is understandable that partisans of an ideology might want to shield their views from criticism. However in a democratic society no viewpoint should be shielded from criticism. Zionism is no exception.

Furthermore there is a clear tension between Zionism (at least in its present-day varieties) and contemporary ideals of an inclusive democracy (exemplified by the South African constitution). Whereas contemporary democracies identify themselves as belonging to all who reside in them (or at least all citizens) irrespective of ethnicity or religion, Israel defines itself as a state for a particular ethic/religious group, the Jews.

Thus while any Jew, no matter how tenuous their link to Israel, can become a citizen Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war many of whom still posses the keys to their home are still not allowed to return.

Secondly, Posner argues that it is unfair to ‘single out’ Israel when there are other states that have a track record of human rights violations. It should be a truism that regimes are to be held to the same human rights standard. Those, for example, who criticise Israeli abuses while excusing state repression by Zimbabwe or Iran are clearly hypocritical and prejudiced (though not necessarily anti-Semitic).

However the amount of oppression in the world (on the basis of gender, race, nationality etc) is so vast that demanding that one invest an equal amount of energy in opposing each injustice leads to paralysis and inaction (which suits violators of human rights rather than the oppressed).

The intensity and duration of Israeli oppression (its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is in its 42nd year) and the tensions it is fuelling between Islamic societies and the West warrant significant attention being paid to the conflict.

Posner paints a picture of a virulently anti-Zionist South African media, in which human rights concerns are mere covers for an attack on the legitimacy of Israel. The reality, I would suggest, is more nuanced. I agree with Posner that coverage of Israel in South Africa’s printed press is often critical. However criticism of Israeli policy does not automatically equate to criticism of Zionism let alone an endorsement of Israel’s destruction.

As a habitual reader of the mass circulation Cape Times, Sunday Times, Sunday Independent and Mail & Guardian, I’ve found the editorial lines to be critical of Israel’s settlement building and frequent excessive use of force (while also condemning Palestinian attacks on civilians) and supportive of a negotiated, 2-state, solution to the conflict. Of course there are many opinion pieces taking an anti-Zionist position. However, the Cape Times, for example has frequently published opinion pieces by pro-Zionist writers such as Joel Pollak and Milton Shain.

In seeking to present the South African media landscape as grotesquely anti-Israel the author launches a savage attack on the Freedom of Expression Institute (which is not the sole South African organisation committed to defending freedom of expression).

The past position of its Director of Operations in the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) together with its executive directors pro-Palestinian activism in her personal capacity is used, without further evidence, to call the institute ‘simply an adjunct to the Palestine Solidarity Committee).

A browse through their publications and press statements reveals that the institute is currently supporting the campaign against the Film and Publications board’s censorship of a film about an intersexed youth and has published books on topics such as the state of the SABC, media in the SADC region, hate speech and pornography. All in all the output of an organisation concerned with freedom of expression not a front for a pro-Palestine group.

Anthony Posner - Israel/Palestine: Reflections of South Africans

2009-03-10T02:07:00.005+02:00

This article is a guest appearance in line with the Israel/Palestine: Reflections of South Africans series. To read more articles and contributor guidelines see here and here. The views expressed below are not shared by the author of QPQ but are published in the interest of debate.

Freedom of Expression? Legitimate Criticism?

by Anthony Posner (aka The Blacklisted Dictator)

Let me lay my cards on the Quid Pro Quo blog table. I am an anti-anti-zionist. Not quite the same as a Zionist. If I was, I'd be living in Israel and not in South Africa.

Over the past couple of years, I have in one way or another, been discussing mainly on the internet two important issues in relation to the conflict in the Middle East. The first has been how freedom of expression impinges on the debate. The second is what constitutes legitimate criticism of Israel. With regard to them both, I have been discussing it within the South African context.

My eyes were first opened when I found out that The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) was really just an adjunct to The Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC). Up until recently, its Director of Operations, Na'eem Jeenah, was also the spokesperson for The PSC.

I also found out that Jane Duncan (exec director of The FXI) had signed South African Academics Supporting the PACBI Call for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions.

http://www.sue.be/pal/academic/SA_boycott_sigs.html

When I wrote to Jane Duncan asking whether she thought that boycotting Israeli academics furthered freedom of expression, I received no reply. I also asked her which other academics the FXI believed should be boycotted. Zimbabwean? Burmese? Chinese? Iranian? Sudanese? Saudi Arabian? Syrian? etc. And, of course, this was also met by silence.

Interesting to ponder that virtually nobody in South Africa makes any fuss about The FXI's position regarding Israel and the wider Middle East. Of course if The FXI was run by The South African Zionist Federation there would be uproar from the editor of the Mail & Guardian and virtually every other main stream South African newspaper. But that is how the world works and even more so in SA.

So there is no level playing field when Israel pops up in The SA press. The framework proscribing how freedom of expression relates to the complex debate is clearly biased. Propaganda, and not proper analysis rules the day.

The South African Human Rights Delegation (SAHRD), fronted by Doron Isaacs and Nathan Geffen, has more recently forced me to consider what constitutes legitimate criticism of Israel.

Firstly , it is important to realize that the main stream media is so anti-zionist that critiques of their SAHRD views rarely see the light of day. As a result, one of the biggest obstacles confronting us is to actually debate the issues. Israel’s accusers are carte blanching 24/7 in the SA media; they can quite literally write what they like and get away with it.

Secondly, is it legitimate criticism to single Israel out for criticism and to keep silent about various Islamic regimes?

Thirdly, is it legitimate criticsm when the complex history and political dynamics in the Middle East are ignored?

Fourthly, is it legitimate criticsm when the terms “human rights”, “anti-racism”, “anti colonialist” etc are fashionably used as weapons to attack Israel’s legitimacy?

Fifthly, is it legitimate criticsm when Jews who write such criticsm know that their views will gain wider currency, because it is much harder to allege that Jewish “legitimate criticsm” of Israel may be unfair or antisemitic?

And finally, is it “legitimate criticism” when people who “legtitimately criticize” Israel are unwilling to publicly debate precisely what consitutes “legitimate criticsm” in the South African context?

With regard to my last question, I sincerely hope that I am proven wrong and that my article will provoke a detailed and interesting debate on Quid Pro Quo!

Where has the time gone?

2009-03-05T01:23:00.004+02:00

I've been a stranger to the blogosphere for a while now. Appy-polly-logies for the muteness but I have been working as an intern in the news department at Classic FM in Joburg for about two months. I have been involved in almost the entire spectrum of radio broadcasting and news production and it has been a incredible priviledge. My duties included:

Writing radio news stories
Editing print (wire) stories for radio usage
Diary formulation and lead generation
Researching and interviewing for lead stories
Audio editing of sound bites.
Sports news writing and reading.
Field reporting.
Transferring news copy and audio to web.

Working at Classic has been an amazing experience but it has left me utterly exhausted at the end of the day (especially after hours of sitting in traffic). It is difficult to appreciate the speed with which news is produced and the effort required to present contemporary events in a fair and accurate manner until you are required to do so yourself.

So forgive me if the last thing I wanted to see upon my return home is a back-lit LCD screen.

Good news for bloggers out there is that all your ceaseless typing can pay off sometimes. Quid Pro Quo helped to get me noticed in the media world and was also a dry-run for the type of work I ended up doing in my formal journalism.

I am still working at the station as a part-time sports reader (my nerd credentials have taken a major knock). You can listen to me on 102.7 fm in the Joburg Metropolitan area or online at http://www.classicfm.co.za/

I'm on at 16h30 and 17h30 tomorrow and Friday.

Interview with Jeremy Boraine, publisher of Zuma biography

2008-12-22T00:40:00.008+02:00

Jeremy Boraine, publishing director of Jonathan Ball is interviewed about Jeremy Gordin's new biography of Jacob Zuma. He talks generally about the publishing landscape in South Africa as well as another title, The Arms Deal in Your Pocket by Paul Holden. He is speaking to David Ansara at Exclusive Books, Hyde Park before the official address by Blade Nzimande. (Wednesday, 10th December, 2008).

DA: We’re here with Jeremy Boraine, who is the publishing director of Jonathan Ball, which is publishing Zuma: A Biography by Jeremy Gordin. Tell us Mr. Boraine, how was the book conceived, what was the genesis of it?

JB: It was actually an idea that I had. I felt that Zuma was a very interesting character, he was in the spotlight as it were. And it appeared likely that he would rise to the top, there was a good chance of that. And so I cast around for an author. Jeremy Gordin was recommended to me by one of my other authors and I approached him and we discussed it. Jeremy seemed like the right person because he was active in writing political journalism and in particular he had followed some of the trials and tribulations of Jacob Zuma. So I guess that’s the genesis of the book.

DA: Well it seems long overdue, a biography on Jacob Zuma. Are there any revelations in the book, anything we don’t know about Mr. Zuma outside of the cut-and-thrust of the daily news articles?

JB: Well I think he has been well-covered in the newspapers so I don’t think… this isn’t a book that seeks to expose new secrets. I mean Zuma’s, you know, been well covered in that regard. I think what Jeremy has tried to do - Jeremy Gordin - has tried to do, […] and I think as the publisher we sort of had the same intention, is that here’s this important political figure whether you like it or not so here is his story for better or for worse.

It’s certainly not the final word on Jacob Zuma, and of course it has Jeremy Gordin’s opinions in it as well, but it is an attempt to reflect on the full life of Jacob Zuma from his birth until the current day. Much is known about the last six or eight years - the trials, the tribulations, whatever - but not that much is known about his years in Robben Island, or where he grew up, or his early political days. So it’s an attempt to explore that fully, but as I said it’s certainly not the final word but we think, we hope, that it is required reading because he’s destined - very likely - to be our next president.

DA: Well it almost seems like it should have in brackets “part one” and part two to follow later on, post-presidency.

JB: Yes, well that’s it, if he does make it as president and serves five years or ten years, whatever, I mean he said that he will only serve one term then perhaps a new edition or volume two will be forthcoming.

DA: Well, politicians say all sorts of things, as we know.

JB: Yes.

DA: What do you think about the publishing landscape at the moment just in terms of how we write about our leadership? Do you think biography is the most adequate medium that we have? I know that Jonathan Ball’s had other titles...

JB: Yes, it’s a very good medium because it’s one that the public understands and likes to buy. So in other words one can be fairly confident if one publishes a biography that – as opposed to a collection of essays or some other form that it will be purchased by quite a few people. So in other words you can reach an audience through biography. Whether it’s the perfect means, you know every book has its own lenses. You know, it depends who writes it, authorized or unauthorized.

But going beyond biography, […] what makes the South African publishing landscaped different from say the UK or Australia is that political books sell very well. I think that certainly points to a country obsessed with politics with, you know, a lot of political change, a lot of political tension. And that is why we choose to publish in that genre because it is an exciting genre and people want to read about it and we like to keep our finger on the pulse.

DA: Sorry to throw you a bit of a curve ball but I read yesterday in the newspaper that Jonathan Ball has had a bit of trouble between two of its titles, The Arms Deal in Your Pocket and the Zuma biography issues with [being], you know, a bit too lenient with the referencing style. Do you care to comment on that?

JB: Yes, I can’t really say anything more now, other than they are both our authors and that makes that quite a sensitive matter. We are speaking to both authors about it and we are moving towards a settlement between the two authors and once we reach that settlement we will issue a statement. I’m afraid I can’t say more than that right now*.

DA: Tell us a little bit about Arms Deal in Your Pocket, what’s that all about?

JB: Well, it’s quite simply as it sounds, I hoped the title would be self-explanatory. Paul Holden is a young author with I think a great future. He approached us and the first time he approached us I turned him down because we were about to publish Andrew Feinstein’s book which also covered aspects of the Arms Deal, although of course it wasn’t only about that.

But then, upon reflection, after the success of Andrew’s book we then went back to Paul and sort of said we would love to do your book now and he finished it off and did a terrific job, it is really the Arms Deal in your pocket. If you want to know the A-Z of the Arms Deal, well then read that book. It’s short, it’s compelling, he’s done remarkable research.

DA: That type of material can often have quite a few legal implications. So, is that difficult for you to deal with some of the forensic detail and you know the external forces that might threaten [the publication].

JB: Paul’s a very good researcher and he was very very keen not to go beyond the available material so he was very careful in his research and certainly we had a lawyer read it and we have lawyers read many of our books because they are potentially libelous or cross a legal boundary. So we’ve had no comeback from it which is probably a compliment to Paul in terms of his research.

DA: Well, thank you Mr. Boraine, I think we need to go but it’s been a pleasure speaking to you.

JB: Thank you very much.

-

Photos by Mark Oppenheimer.

*Note: the controversy over the insufficient acknowledgment of Holden's words in the Gordin text was subsequently resolved between the two authors. See this post on BookSA: 'Happy ending for Holden, Gordin, Ball'

Interview with Jeremy Gordin, biographer of Jacob Zuma

2008-12-21T00:23:00.006+02:00

Author, journalist and poet Jeremy Gordin speaks to QPQ about his unauthorised biography of ANC President Jacob Zuma. Gordin discusses the man behind the political persona and the challenges of writing a biography on such a contentious figure. He is speaking to David Ansara at the official Jonathan Ball launch at Exclusives Books, Hyde Park. (Wednesday, 10th December 2008).

DA: We’re here with Jeremy Gordin, who is the author of Zuma: A Biography. Jeremy, speak us through the writing of this book. How did it all start?

JG: I actually went to the Hefer Commission where Zuma wasn’t but he ought to have been, which is why the chapter in the book is called ‘Hamlet without the prince’ and that’s when I started getting interested in him.

And then at the end of November, or even 2005 I started covering him after the Hefer Commission of 2002 – 2003. And in 2005, of course, he was fired by President Thabo Mbeki so I was covering him closely. And then there was the famous incident of November 12th when there was a rumour that a young woman – or a relatively young woman anyway, younger than he – had laid charges of rape against him. And we got a leak that she definitely had and I was put in touch with her through some people in the Zuma camp and she absolutely denied it.

So I wrote a story in the Sunday Independent for which I worked and I said that she denied it and named her. And Sunday Times came out with a story saying unequivocally that she had laid charges of being raped, and of course she had. And I was really annoyed – and embarrassed – because obviously I had been used by the Zuma camp. And that’s what got me really hooked and that’s what got me into the story.

DA: Just on that, I think something I find quite disingenuous is that the Zuma camp – especially in the build-up to Polokwane – always used to say that they have been vilified by the media that they are the scapegoats of the nation. But actually they used the media very judiciously and very shrewdly to push their own agenda as well.

JG: Sure, they absolutely did; both sides used the media to push their agenda and certainly the Zuma side did too.

DA: With those calculated leaks…

JG: There were calculated leaks like that. So anyway, I was hooked and then I really wanted to get into the story. […] And I made an effort to get to know these people and to meet Zuma. And I got to know Zuma, and you ask how has my perception of the story changed. It’s quite interesting because it went through kind of, you know, highs and lows because I liked him very much initially but as I got to know more about him I found my own kind of mood fluctuating, and I had to work very hard to make this really not about me and not about my perceptions but to try and tell the story in a narrative.

DA: What were some of those more gloomy moments?

JG: Well, more gloomy moments was when it finally sunk in – I’m a bit slow I’m afraid – when it finally sunk in that I had been used for example in that particular story. It actually came out at the rape trial that… I don’t know if you remember the rape trial that the woman who brought the charges, Kwezi said: “My police minders told me to talk to this guy Jeremy Gordin.” And I realized Zuma – not Zuma himself, I must stress – ‘cos I found out later who it was, somebody actually had a connection in the police force. That opened up the story. South Africa’s actually an amazing place. You have all kinds of people who are purportedly villains for example and yet have got friends from the struggle in high places.

DA: Yes, we were talking a bit about the rape trial. And how do you think Mr. Zuma conducted himself during that and especially his supporters [sic]? Do you think that he did enough to reign in his supporters when they were making very violent statements?

JG: I think that he reigned in his support…well I mean the question was he claimed he wasn’t controlling his supporters but I mean after his supporters behaved incredibly badly it was interesting that suddenly they were reigned in. So, there was someone controlling those supporters but they were reigned in after about two days; they behaved very badly.

DA: Mr. Zuma has a defamation suit that he has been in a protracted battle with; especially with cartoonists. Do you think that that is a wise step to take for a leader?

JG: I think that he has dropped it actually. My understanding is that those suits have all been dropped.

DA: Let’s talk a little bit about…

JG: My minder is calling me.. [interruption]

DA: Just one last point about Mr. Zuma the man. His personality, is it as strong and as effusive as people suggest?

JG: Well, strong and effusive are different as you know, but certainly strong but with a jovial overlay. And not very effusive although when he knows people well, he can be sort of effusive.

DA: Thank you Mr. Gordin, I look forward to reading the book.

JG: Thank you.

-

Photos by Mark Oppenheimer.

Interview with Blade Nzimande

2008-12-18T23:09:00.006+02:00

Blade Nzimande, the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party, speaks about ANC President Jacob Zuma at the launch of the Jeremy Gordin biography, Zuma at Exclusive Books, Hyde Park (Wednesday, 10th December 2008).

BN: Well, I think that the book is an important contribution in terms of trying to understand, or lay a foundation to understand, Jacob Zuma much more holistically. Because our problem is that Jacob Zuma has always been approached from the standpoint of the things that have been happening in the past six/seven years and even with that in a very perverted and biased way. And the book is a contribution towards understanding the enormous contribution that he has made to the liberation of this country and the reconstruction.

DA: So you suggested in your speech that there are a lot of problems with the way that Mr. Zuma has been represented in the media. Could you elaborate on some of those?

BN: Yes, we think that most journalists, especially [the] overwhelming majority of editors, have really been so negative and biased you know against Zuma - some of it bordering on personal hatred actually – in a manner that I think has closed them off from trying to understand the individual and the context within which he is operating.

DA: I’ve heard you say that before, that they are driven by hatred. What do you think… where does that come from? What cultivates that hatred?

BN: I think it’s a fear of Mr. Zuma. You know, for many of the middle classes, sections of the middle classes. He is a humble man, born in rural areas, never had formal education, taught himself and taught by the struggle, very much respected by millions of workers and the poor of this country, I think that it makes some people uncomfortable unfortunately. Which shouldn’t be the case and as I was trying to say, Jacob Zuma as a person is a very nice man and as a person politically who is very open-minded to engaging and even listening to views that are contrary to his own without taking, you know, umbrage at that.

DA: Everybody knows that Mr. Zuma is a very nice man, he’s very personable, quick to laugh, but, I mean, are those the qualities we look for in leadership or do we [look for something more]?

BN: No, he’s more than that, he’s more than that. For me, as I said, he is an organic intellectual - an intellectual born out of the struggle - and he’s a leader, he’s a unifier. And I think that’s what South Africa needs now more than anything else, you know. We need someone who will bring hope to millions of our poor people, someone also who is a unifier, someone who listens. We think that the period we’re in in South Africa now requires a Jacob Zuma.

DA: When did you personally first meet with Mr. Zuma?

BN: In 1990, in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

DA: And what was the context of that meeting?

BN: The context was that I was serving in the regional executive committee of what was then the Natal Midlands. And Comrade Zuma was a national leader, of course already of the ANC and we had to meet in Kwa-Zulu Natal particularly around the issue of how to deal with the violence of that time. It was in that context that I met him.

DA: So in those eighteen or so years how has your relationship with him evolved?

BN: Well, it’s been a principled relationship, that’s how I would describe it, you know. We’ve had our differences, as I’ve said.

DA: Such as?

BN: Like around how to deal with the violence. Some of us in the early nineties felt that maybe he was emphasizing too much the question of talks with the IFP at the expense of arming our people to defend themselves, you know. But [we] later on realized that Comrade Zuma did not choose the one over the other but it was about the issue of what was the appropriate balance. Yes we had to defend our communities under enormous violence, but also it was important to try and engage and talk.

DA: You’re the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party…

BN: That’s the last one; ja.

DA: I would like to just talk about the state of communism in South Africa, the communist movement specifically…

BN: The South African Communist Party is very popular. Because we have been very principled and consistent in that we cannot be able to deepen our democracy unless we address the interests of the workers and the poor in this country. And we have waged many campaigns that are taking up issues that are affecting ordinary people: access to land; the question of being blacklisted by the credit bureaus; access to finance; the right to everyone to have a bank account; the right to health, the right to education; all those issues as the South African Communist Party we have taken up together with the people. And of course in the process educating our people that capitalism is no solution to the problems facing humanity. The crisis that we are facing now for us is not just a once-off thing, it is a deeper reflection of how capitalism is unable to deal with the problems facing our people.

DA: More communists in the cabinet, in Mr. Zuma’s cabinet?

BN: No, we don’t know, that’s up to Mr. Zuma when he appoints his own cabinet.

DA: Okay, thank you Mr. Nzimande bye-bye.

-

Photos by Mark Oppenheimer

Interview with Mo Shaik

2008-12-14T23:13:00.008+02:00

Part 1

DA: We’re here with Mo Shaik at Exclusive Books in Hyde Park at the launch of the Jeremy Gordin biography of Zuma, entitled "Zuma". So tell us Mr. Shaik, what are your initial thoughts of the book so far?

MS: Well, I’ve read that chapter that deals with the Hefer Commission for two reasons. One is to see whether he’s said any bad things and to see whether he’s got it quite right. And he didn’t say any bad things about me which I’m very happy [sic]. And secondly I like his writing style. It seems like it is an easily readable book and I hope it’s going to be informative.

DA: But also an important book because much has been said about Mr. Zuma for the last seven or eight years, he’s occupied a significant portion of our public space and our public attention. So how do you think Mr. Zuma has been represented and how do you think that deviates from your actual interactions with him and your actual experience of this man?

MS: I think to date Zuma’s representation has been influenced mainly by Zapiro’s description or Zapiro’s depiction of him as a bumbling fool, a guy who believes that AIDS can be solved by a shower. And that’s unfortunate for those who really know Zuma who find that he’s a much more amenable person, he’s a deep intellectual who thinks very hard about matters and is a leader who can bring together consensus like no other leader can.

DA: Okay, so I mean are you suggesting that his image has been distorted or…?

MS: Absolutely.

DA: Okay, but surely he is making these public statements himself? Recently he made some quite controversial statements about young pregnant girls and forcing people to attend school.

MS: Let me just say in the environment that we live in now, pre-election, COPE dominated, an anti, hostile media, I think anything that Zuma says will be turned and used against him. I’ve always said the only thing you’ve not blamed him for is climate change or global warming. That’s the only thing we’ve not blamed him for yet; but everything else we have. And I think comments that he has made in respect of pregnant children – pregnant girl children – about street children, etc are comments that we need to look at. We need to engage with this phenomenon.

What he’s trying to do by it - and some may think that he is out to shock - but the phenomenon of young girls getting pregnant is something that we as a society need to deal with. The street children issue is something we as a society need to deal with. We can’t keep ignoring the kids that we see at the robots who begging for money and then say well we live in a democracy but we don’t care shit about the children. Now, I think he is alerting us to these kind of issues. Of course, taken out of context, it can mean a whole lot of other things for the people who just simply are anti-Zuma.

DA: I find it interesting because in many ways Zuma often defers questions about his personality or his own role as an individual for the struggle for the end of apartheid and for democracy and his role within the ANC. So I think that a lot of ANC leaders are quite averse to that kind of scrutiny. Do you think that this biography will show us more of the man behind the public persona?

MS: I think it’s the beginning of starting to see the man in a different light and I think it is the beginning of getting to know Zuma in a very different way. I think, and you’re right in the sense that he is shy to speak of himself which is understandable given the kind of period we have been through now.

DA: But is that good for a democracy?

MS: Yes [… ] we must avoid the trap that other countries have gone into where you want to see in your leaders everything about their private lives. I think we need to separate constantly the public from the private and I think that’s good for a democracy.

DA: Surely that’s the sacrifice of leadership, that…?

MS: No, not necessarily… We are standing in a public place but I don’t want to know the colour of your underwear, do you?

DA: I’d rather not reveal that!

MS: Exactly.

DA: I think people often overlook the fact that Mr. Zuma played a very dominant role in the Mbeki administration. He was deputy president for several years.

MS: No, he’s not played a dominant role. If you look at the way the Mandela administration was structured and then the way the Mbeki administration was structured we will see that under Mandela the deputy presidency had an enormous role to play but under Mbeki the deputy presidency was watered down. And I think that is what happened and the presidency, as in the president’s office assumed a greater role. I think under the Mbeki administration the deputy presidency was a watered-down role.

Part 2

DA: What do you think are the challenges posed by the break-away movement, the Congress of the People?

MS: Well, I think essentially what they are going to do is racialise politics in this country. For example, they will as COPE become, in my view the next official opposition. But, in the process of doing that, they are going to make the DA a more white party, they will make the Independent Democrats an all-coloured party and they will make the UDM an all-Xhosa party.

DA: What is there to suggest that that will actually happen?

MS: Well, it’s simple if you read the political history. Why would anyone want to vote DA if you have a so-called credible black party? Most of the whites will vote for COPE, who believe that COPE has the chance to form an effective opposition. Only those who have historically been with the DA will vote for DA and that will be whites. The same will happen with the coloured community in Cape Town. They will now see COPE as a credible opposition, they will vote for COPE and only those who are really either kith or kin will go for Patricia de Lille in the ID. So you will see that racialisation happening.

DA: So, has the formation of COPE given the ANC pause to consider what have we done to alienate a significant portion of our following?

MS: Let’s be clear on why COPE has been formed. COPE has been formed because there were undemocratic people who could not accept the outcome of the Polokwane conference and everything else has been for that. So it’s people who have been used to power. And please don’t forget that they are the ones who have been ministers and premiers of Gauteng, etc for the past fifteen years. And they are the ones who [have] now formed the new party. Now any party that is formed on an anti-basis does not survive. I’ve made this point before: that you do not demonstrate your democratic characteristics or tendencies by engaging in an undemocratic way.

DA: One of the unfortunate side-effects of the run-up to Polokwane was the politicization and the factionalism experienced within the state institutions. I know you have a background in intelligence and the Hefer Commission dealt a lot with the role of the intelligence agency, the NIA. What are the challenges that the NIA is facing and how can we re-structure our intelligence services to be less political?

MS: Well, I think the challenge – and that’s a very good question – the challenge that the country will be facing is how do we ensure that we have a non-political partisan civil service and how do we ensure that there is a professionalization of the civil service? And how do we ensure that the civil service becomes efficient and effective in their delivery. Those are the challenges that the government – any government will have to deal with. If you recall, the Nicholson judgement went to the heart of the abuse of state power by President Mbeki and his cabinet. And I think that we will still be grappling with that issue for a while but I think now that we have the Nicholson judgement there is a challenge to the new government to ensure that we now begin the process of the professionalization of the civil service.

DA: Lastly, the elephant in the room, with this book specifically, is going to be the Arms Deal. Do you think that President Motlanthe and his decision to reject the call by Desmond Tutu and de Klerk and others for a judicial inquiry – an independent inquiry – into the Arms Deal? Do you think that that’s justified? What are your thoughts on that?

MS: Well, my view is that the Arms Deal is the most prostituted whore in this country. Everyone who’s had anything to say about it has had something to say about it. But the truth of the matter is it’s been in international investigations and constantly the question was put the proof before the courts, before the police, and no-one’s been able to come up with anything other than speculation, other than gossip, other than what has been regurgitated all this while. Now whether a commission will put that to bed I don’t know.

Because at the heart of it lies politics, lies international politics, lies national politics. And, for example, if you look at the two people who have been prosecuted for corruption in the Arms Deal, the one being Tony Yengeni, the other being Schabir Shaik, none of it was about substantial payment of money from the arms dealers to these people. With Schabir Shaik it was his own money. In the case of Yengeni it was a discount on a car. And I think if we do want to have a commission it would be good if Tutu and de Klerk made that call while Mbeki was the President of the country. Then it would have been courageous of them.

Secondly, I think if we want to have a commission of enquiry into the Arms Deal, it must be a commission of enquiry of all the facets, including, including prosecuting those who have illegally used information of the state to discredit other people. And on that example, Andrew Feinstein should be prosecuted.

DA: Alright, contentious remarks from Mo Shaik, as always.

MS: Not at all, not at all, it’s democracy!

DA: Thank you very much for speaking to Quid Pro Quo.

-

Photos by Mark Oppenheimer

Interview with Pippa Green

2008-12-10T12:17:00.002+02:00

DA: We’re here with Pippa Green, who’s the author of Choice, Not Fate, the biography of Trevor Manuel. Pippa, take us through the process of writing biography, especially somebody, a subject such as Mr. Manuel, somebody who has been in the headline recently. I mean, what is it like to embark on a project of this scale?

PG: Well, it’s quite a responsibility I suppose, because you have to make sure that everything’s right. There’s a lot of checking to do, a lot of research to do. But it’s also a real priviledge because it gives you an insight into the lives of people – not only him but a lot of others – who made our history what it is. And I think that’s quite an extraordinary thing. In South Africa we haven’t told our own stories enough but we’re beginning to do that now.

DA: What was the genesis of the book?

PG: I had always thought, I had long thought that he had an interesting story to tell and I asked him if I could write his biography about five or six years ago. And I started working on it three years ago.

DA: It was alluded to in the presentations that a lot of the book is more about the times of Trevor Manuel rather than the man himself. Do you think that the historical elements are more interesting than the subject? He does have quite a personality and a public profile.

PG: Yes, I’ve tried to marry them, I’ve tried to interweave. What is important is his place in history and the role that he’s played. So I’ve tried to marry the two. And sometimes you have to take a step back from the narrative and say this is what is actually what was happening around at the time. I hope that it’s interesting, but I don’t believe you can understand people without the historical context.

DA: There’s been a real plethora of biographies. There’s another biography on Jacob Zuma, the excellent example is Mark Gevisser’s biography on Thabo Mbeki. Do you think that South Africa is suffering from a bit of a saturation of biographies? Do you think maybe a different medium would be more appropriate in the future?

PG: I don’t think so, I don’t think we have enough, and I don’t think we tell our own stories properly. After the American Revolution people began to tell the story of the founding fathers, the signers of the constitution. I think that it’s only recently that we have begun to tell our own history because some people have only begun to get the confidence to do it recently. And I hope there are many, many more; there are incredible people to tell stories about in the country.

DA: And in the whole course of writing the book, which section or chapter stands out for you? Which was the most challenging and which was the most compelling for you personally?

PG: Well, I think it was most fun writing the section on the Emergency years and his time in jail. I think what was most difficult was the economic policy, the making of economic policy. I had to really work hard to make sure that I understood things correctly.

DA: And did you have any personal interactions with Mr. Manuel and his family?

PG: We did quite a lot of interviews. I interviewed his family, I interviewed him probably about twenty or so times over a period of three years.

DA: How accessible was he?

PG: Look you can’t just make an appointment for the next day, but we used to schedule them about once a month. He agreed to my doing it, it wasn’t authorized, it was my work, but he did make the time for me to do it in the beginning. Afterwards when we got later on it got more difficult, simply because of time constraints but we still managed to squeeze the last three in.

DA: Trevor Manuel is often vilified as one of the key protagonists of the “1996 Class Project”, the so-called neo-liberal revolution in South Africa. Do you think he has been unfairly treated by those on the left or other members of the Tripartite Alliance?

PG: I don’t think it’s right. If you read the book you will see that he wasn’t that vilified. I mean, I have both Vavi and Cronin saying complimentary things about him. There also was the issue that we were really poised on the brink of a debt crisis – I mean a very serious debt crisis. And there were certain decisions that needed to be made. He was the guy who was in the seat who had to make them. But I think the book looks at some of the issues around and the debates around the macroeconomic policy and what drove it. Because in a biography what you have to do is to understand what drives people and certain points of history.

DA: Alright Pippa Green, thanks very much for speaking to Quid Pro Quo, it’s been an absolute pleasure.

PG: Thanks very much indeed for having me, thank you.

City of Ghosts

2008-12-08T15:22:00.005+02:00

View of Delhi from a Minaret of the Jamma Masjid.

City of Djinns
William Dalrymple
(1994)

A young historian and his wife leave their Scottish home to live in Delhi for a year in the 1980s. The book is part travel-log, part historical narrative of a city with multiple, fractured pasts and a peculiar populous.

Dalrymple takes us deep into the courts of the Moghul emperors; particularly the succession struggle between Aurangzeb and his brothers - brought on by the faltering health of their father, Shah Jahan (of Taj Mahal fame). It is this conflict, of familial betrayal and fratricide, that set off the slow decline into tyranny that eventually felled the once mighty Muslim empire.

Other accounts are of eunuchs, Anglo-Indians, the heat (all-encompassing) and forays into archaeology. The most lasting image is of a pre-British Old Delhi, bedecked in jewels and flowing with water features; a city so cultured, it was said that even the prostitutes could sing in Urdu verse.

The book is hampered by its inability to pass judgement - merely conveying the quirks of characters and dynasties rather than elaborating on some brutal historical episodes. As a result, the effects of Islamic dominance on India's national self-understanding are left underexplored.

However, in its totality, City of Djinns is a fascinating book and any visitor to India should have it on their reading list.

-

Photograph by David Ansara

Cracks in the Glass

2008-12-03T19:37:00.006+02:00

Franny and Zooey
J.D. Salinger
(1961)

The acclaimed author of Catcher in the Rye, Jerome David Salinger, has produced a handful of works, one of which is Franny and Zooey, a novella in two parts. Catcher is one of my favourite pieces of fiction because it so deftly captures the atomised nature of post-War America and the sense of disaffection that many young men feel in the face of stifling societal norms. So it was with a great sense of anticipation that I approached this work.

However, given Salinger’s reputation, I found Franny and Zooey for the most part a disappointment. It is a tale of an eccentric New York family, the Glass’s, who fancy themselves as the aristocrats of the north eastern intelligentsia. The precocious children (of whom the titular Franny and Zooey are two) all appeared on a radio show as kids - a trivia programme for prodigies called “Wise Child”. They have since emerged into young adulthood, the old certainties are lost, and each is trying to find his or her way in a confusing malaise.

Following a luncheon with her egotistical boyfriend, Franny suffers a mental breakdown and returns home. She is desperate to escape the demands of the public and to retreat into the life of spiritual recluse, but Zooey will have none of it. The latter part of the book sees her brother's efforts to halt her downward descent with discussions on the meaning of art and religion – with much repartee in between.

Franny and Zooey is written with the effortless style that is Salinger’s signature, with colloquial speech (like the ubiquitous "goddam") mixing with reflections on human nature and Eastern mysticism (which must have been bloody esoteric in the late 1950s!). The text also explores the duty of artists to create, and their struggle to find emotional peace amongst the churning waves of that creativity.

Salinger sketches characters with remarkable dexterity, and you are immediately drawn into their world. However, what he depicts is merely an episode in that world rather than a fully developed narrative. Considering that my edition was just over 200 pages, too much time was spent describing unnecessary details - like the bric-a-brac in the living room - and not enough on unwrapping the relationship dynamics and inner tensions of these compelling people.

I love short fiction, but this book’s brevity was a hindrance rather than a help. The usual rule-of-thumb with shorter pieces is that every sentence should count and I think JD wastes a lot of time with descriptive prose. Either the book should have been longer, or more focused, but as it stands it feels incomplete.

The Messiah of the Proleteriat

2008-12-02T16:52:00.006+02:00

Marx
By Peter Singer
(1980)

Part of the ‘Past Masters’ series, this short account of Karl Marx’s life and thinking is a useful introduction to the philosopher, but with enough expository points to interest readers more familiar with his work.

Singer, who has also written about the ethical treatment of animals and is known as a liberal utilitarian, prefers to focus on the normative and conceptual strands in Marx’s writing rather than the technical details or practical politics of Marxist governance.

An introductory biographical chapter is followed by a discussion of Marx’s intellectual evolution as a Hegelian and his building on the theory of dialectical materialism. The principal ideas of Marx’s historical determinism - of economics as the chief form of alienation, and the working class as the liberating force of humanity - are discussed with clarity and critical insight.

This is paralleled with vivid descriptions of the life and impact of one of the most influential people ever, and how Nineteenth Century industrial Europe shaped his theoretical output and radical political struggles. Singer notes (at the time of writing) that four out of every ten citizens on earth were living under governments that claimed to be run along Marxist principles. But his impact was far greater than this, as the author duly observes:

“Can anyone now think about society without reference to Marx's insights into the links between economic and intellectual life? Marx’s ideas brought about modern sociology, transformed the study of history, and profoundly affected philosophy, literature and the arts. In this sense of the term – admittedly a very loose sense – we are all Marxists now.”

Mumbai burns

2008-12-01T15:31:00.009+02:00

.The Taj Mahal Palace hotel

It was with great concern that I witnessed last week's events in Mumbai, where gunmen killed over a hundred and fifty people and injured hundreds more. The city holds a particular relevance for me as I had the pleasure of visiting there in January 2007.

It is a place where colonial architecture sits alongside modern sky-scrapers with pavement slums squeezed in between; where the warm fuzz of the sea air radiates through you lending the surroundings an electric quality. It is the only truly cosmopolitan city in India, it's people are intelligent and dynamic, and it is possibly the one place in the country where I would consider living. However, beneath the idyllic exterior lurks a tumult of violence and intolerance which every now and then boils to the surface as it did last Wednesday.

Even more disturbing for me is the fact that I visited two of the four sites of the terrorist attacks, the Taj Mahal Palace as well as Leopold Cafe (made famous by the novel Shantaram). As a stand-alone image, the blood on the restaurant floor is upsetting enough; the fact that I felt that floor beneath my feet, remember the texture of the tables where I ate and drank and the people who served me, is especially chilliing.

Inside Leopold's

Amidst all of the chaos of last week it is pertinent to ask what motivates terrorists to do what they do. I feel passionately about my ideas sometimes and can get pretty irritable when others refuse to reconsider their opinions in the face of my arguments. But the anger that everyone feels at ignorance or misunderstanding is but a fraction compared to the rage that drove those dozen or so men to kill on such a grand scale.

Gateway of India, in the Mumbai harbour.
When I visited this was the venue of a jazz and classical Indian
fusion music show. It is also where the terrorists landed their boats
before storming the Taj hotel across the road (from
where I took this picture)

A large part of it has to do with religion, not only fanaticism, but religion in general. Religious feeling, particularly monotheism, instills the notion that only you have access to the Truth and that others' humanity is demeaned and deprecated by their varying interpretations of the world - be it the physical or the metaphysical.

Maybe those individuals would have found other reasons to pick up their weapons. Although the terrorists were Pakistani, many Muslims, particularly in Maharashtra, have lived a life of exclusion and deprivation, inhabiting the outer margins of the India Shining construction. There are some serious questions that need answering about the way in which the hundred million-strong minority of the adherents of Islam are treated in India and the extent to which an inclusive nationalism is promoted in that country.

Statue of Gandhi in a park
in downtown Mumbai.

But there is no excuse for what these men have done. They have taken away so many lives and ruined so many more and they have probably hardened the resolve of the Hindu hard-line. Under these circumstances, the words of Mahatma Gandhi are a fitting rebuke to terror:

"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for, but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."

If only this message had been heeded. How easy it is to destroy what others have taken so long to build.

-

Photos by David Ansara, Jan 2007

Ode to a revolution

2008-11-29T21:48:00.011+02:00

'Homage to Catalonia'
By George Orwell
1938

George Orwell’s memoir of his time fighting Fascism in the Spanish Civil War is one of the definitive accounts of the conflict and the best of the author’s non-fiction writing.

Orwell arrived in Barcelona in December 1936 initially with the intention of being a war correspondent, but soon enlisted with the POUM militia, a Socialist ally of the Republican government “because”, he explained “at that time and in that atmosphere it seemed like the only conceivable thing to do.”

The Catalan city was seething with revolutionary fervour, with newly collectivized workshops and stores, and unionist control over every aspect of life. Orwell depicts these early glimmers of egalitarianism through the visual space of the streets:

“Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties; almost every church had been gutted and its images burnt….

“Every shop and café had an inscription saying it had been collectivised… Waiters looked you in the face and treated you as an equal. Servile and even ceremonial forms of speech had temporarily disappeared. Nobody said ‘Señor’ or ‘Don’ or even ‘Usted’; everyone called everyone else ‘Comrade’ and ‘Thou’ and said ‘Salud!’ instead of ‘Buenos dias’.”

After some haphazard training Orwell was shipped off to the front. Compared to the Fascists, the cold and deprivation were more persistent enemies. He describes night-time sorties into no-man’s-land to scratch potatoes out of the dirt and risking snipers and mortars in order to gather a few splinters of firewood to keep warm.

Confined to trenches, poorly equipped and thrifty with ammunition, actual contact with Fascist troops was minimal. “This wasn’t a war, it was a bloody pantomime,” his British friends used to joke.

More common was the endless drift and boredom of guard duty and the occasional stray bullet. One of those bullets caught Orwell in the neck, partially destroying his vocal cords and narrowly missing his arteries. He candidly describes this as “an interesting experience”.

Those resisting Franco were by no means monolithic. A mixture of Anarchists, Stalinist Communists, small decentralized union collectives and an array of foreign militias all competed for influence. Propaganda campaigns were waged between the rival groups amidst suspicion of espionage and agents provocateur.

A deep ambivalence soon overtook Orwell’s romantic enthusiasm for the revolution as he witnessed factionalism deteriorate into outright violence. While he was convalescing in Barcelona, battle-fatigued and demoralised, the POUM was denounced as ‘Trotskist’ and in the pay of the Fascists and banned (both accusations were untrue). Orwell was now forced to fend for his life, sleeping in the streets as his fellow soldiers were imprisoned and killed by their former comrades.

In the morning Orwell would visit the barber shops and ‘shoe-blacks’, to clean himself up and spend the day masquerading as a bourgeois tourist. “It was queer how everything had changed.” he said. “Only six months ago, when the Anarchists still reigned, it was looking like a proletarian that made you respectable.” Finally he fled the revolution which he had come to defend - ossified and bureaucratised out of existence. As history would show, the Fascists eventually won.

Orwell was a man who not only displayed intellectual finesse, but who also made great sacrifices for his ideas. Yet, in spite of all he gave up in pursuit of a cause, he was forthright enough to see through - and speak up against - its dogma.

George Orwell was an idealist, but he also recognised the inevitability of power and how it could crush human freedom beneath the weight of ideology. Homage to Catalonia displays the judicious use of language and the insistence on simplicity and honesty that has helped Orwell's work to endure for so long.

Mamphela Ramphele Interview: GIBS Forecast 2009

2008-11-23T22:45:00.004+02:00

Activist, academic and businesswoman, Mampela Ramphele speaks to David Ansara at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). The occasion is the annual 'Forecast' debate, looking to the year ahead in anticipation of what awaits South Africa in the near future.

DA: Okay, we’re walking here with Dr Mamphela Ramphele and she has just given her presentation from the Forecast 2009. Dr. Ramphele, what were some of your impressions from tonight?

[Interruption]

DA: If you could just tell us about what you think of this kind of culture of shared commonalities and values. How do you think South Africans should try and strive towards a kind of more shared national identity?

MR: I believe that this country is sitting on a huge potential to be great in the true sense of the word ‘greatness’. And that greatness is not going to come from us trying to be like any other country because we are an African country that has got particular endowments that are different from the rest of the continent. We have a super-modern economy, we’ve got huge potential to grow from a diversity of cultures that no other African country has and also the connectedness to the global environment.

Yet, we are not competitive, in part because we have failed to rise to our opportunities. In dealing with our challenges we have tended to shoot ourselves in the foot. So lets take the example of the inheritance of Mandela, the international icon. And with that as your asset base you should be absolutely soaring into the sky.

DA: Do you think we have squandered our moral capital?

MR: I don’t think we have squandered it; we have just not yet leveraged it. Because it’s there, it’s like a heritage, you know, unless it’s money. But it’s there and if you return to it you can actually build on it. And I believe that we can build on that heritage to say as an African country with these particular endowments, a third of the GDP of Africa, what can we do that will make us as a country better, the continent better? And I think our greatest asset are our people. People who need to be highly educated, highly skilled and appreciative of diversity as a strength and not a weakness.

DD: So the coming elections next year, do you see that people are going to participate in the creation of a more public and open space or are there some worrying signs of political intolerance? Do you think those are overstated perhaps?

MR: I think it all depends on you and I as citizens. If you and I give the message to every politician that comes knocking at our door or our street or our village or our town to say what are your values? What are you offering to address the challenges that we face? What is your vision? How is that vision married to our founding document and its values? If you can’t answer those questions you don’t get my vote. So our vote as ordinary citizens is the biggest asset base that we’ve got. If we use it properly, just like you use your shares in a company to go the company meeting and say I will not have this CEO continuing because he or she has messed up. We in South Africa have in a sense devalued our citizenship which many people died for us to be able to vote – and lets honour that.

DA: Thank you very much.

MR: Thank you. Bye.

DA: Bye-bye.

Dennis Davis Interview: Forecast 2009

2008-11-21T16:07:00.005+02:00

Cape High Court Judge Dennis Davis speaks to David Ansara after moderating a debate at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). He discusses some of the challenges - and opportunities - facing South Africa in a turbulent and changing world. For a full account of the night's proceedings see here.

DD: Well I think this evening is just a wonderful illustration of the possibility for debate in South Africa because you had people from slightly different viewpoints very seriously talking about what is going to be happening in 2009 both economically and politically and the challenges are immense. Also you find 250 people here listening intently for close on two hours which indicates that what's wrong in this country is not having enough fora like this in public space, that's the problem.

DA: A wonderful forum indeed. One of the things that I liked about your closing is you were talking about this dialectic between strengths and opportunities in 2009. Could you elaborate?

DD: Oh, sure. The truth is economically the world has got to the point where the old model of capitalism has gone. No doubt about that. So the opportunities – that creates the crisis, that's the threat – what's the opportunity? Can we actually start carving out some form of global governance and economic response that will get us out of the mess and because it will get us out of the mess, I believe may get us to a very much more egalitarian vision of the world than the one that we've suffered under for the last twenty years. That's the crucial area.

No doubt about it, we are moving from an era of what they call Adam Smithsonian globalization to some form of Keyensian globalization. How that works, I dunno, but that's what's going to happen.

And politically in South Africa we don't know what's going to happen, but sure as hell we know one thing is that there is now far more contestation of political space in South Africa than in the past fourteen years. So people are going to have to win power from more what they do, it seems to me, rather than simply the pedigree that they have.

DA: And economically the way that South Africa has responded to outside forces in the past, there was a suggestion that we always muddle through. How do you think the country and its leadership can reclaim that agency on the international stage?

DD: Well, they've done quite well. I mean, I don't think we've done badly, but the fact that we are growing and we're going to grow at over three percent this year is extraordinary. And the fact that we will grow next year is not bad.

It's not that we've done badly, it's that we could do better, we have to do better. So the claim on the international stage is much more of a political claim rather than an economic claim. I suspect that we have far more credibility in the way that we've managed our economy than, say, the way we've managed Zimbabwe, if I could put it that way. But the real question for the economy is how do we in fact go up a gear, how do we actually (that's an unfortunate term), how do we go up another notch by having created the stability and now start in a sense addressing those key issues of education, health, et cetera.

That's the challenge for another government, that's the challenge for economic policy is how do you do that? You can't say that the government hasn't got a major role – it has, and it's failed. So the real issue is to puzzle out how you get better delivery in an increasingly fraught economic system. Now if we can do that then in fact we do become in a sense a model for the rest of the world.

DA: In many ways some of the failure, and you alluded to it in your moderation of the debate, of South Africa has been in the implementation of policy and not so much in the envisioning of policy. So this new Keynesian world that you talk about, is this going to be big states…?

DD: No, no, no-no, it means much more a question of what kind of global governance will take place. How do we deal with the environment globally? How do we deal with an international financial system which at this particular point in time has been unregulated and can no longer be so? Remember somebody said here this evening, for the first time in God knows how long, we've got nationalized banks, and no other banks. So clearly that notion of regulation and accountability to the public domain is going to be far more an issue in the 21st Century going forward than it has been up until now.

DA: But maybe in South Africa is that more…that that higher level of regulation and involvement, isn't that going to contribute towards what Raenette Taljaard was talking about, of this blurring of party and state?

DD: No, neah, that is always a danger, you know, one doesn't know, but I'm saying that – well, that's the challenge of course can we move into a situation whereby it's not about ethnicity, it's about views and values and whether poor people, whether you want one form of policy or another. That's a difficult question, and of course there's always danger. I don't however see, it all depends, it's possible that it could all go down an ethnic toilet, it's possible. But I don't see that necessarily happening. I think that we forget about the fact that the constitution is what people are campaigning about. They're not campaigning about ethnicity, what's significant is what they're really campaigning about is who owns the constitution, who owns the freedom charter? And that's good, because we're actually moving slowly towards a value-orientated debate.

DA: Just wearing your legal hat for a while, if you were a panelist here today, you would have been called upon to speak about the state of the judiciary and the rule of law, the independence of the courts…

DD: Well I think, how well have we done? Quite well, better than I think you think. Look, of course there are problems and I'm not going to deny that, but the fact of the matter is that by and large the fact that people are actually campaigning for a constitution, saying "we are the people who are the custodians of the constitution". There have been a lot of threats, but everybody recognizes the work of the constitutional court and the notion of an independent judiciary. Compared to where we've come from, remember where we've come from. We came from a society where the rule of law was in fact applied in the abuse rather than in the use. That is the important point. Okay…

DA: Thank you Dennis Davis, thanks very much.

DD: Take care.

DA: Bye!

-

Photo by David Ansara

GIBS Forecast 2009: Feedback

2008-11-20T21:50:00.007+02:00

Last night (Wed, 20 November, 2008) my father and I attended a fascinating debate hosted by the Gordon Institute of Business Science. GIBS has presented a number of fora this year which I have blogged about in my feedback articles, including:

State of the Nation - Judicial Independence

and

State of the Nation - Media Influence.

Last night was a GIBS signature event, Forecast 2009, which is an annual debate about what the new year will bring. It attempts to read the tea leaves of business, politics and the global dynamics that will affect our country in the near future.

The debate was chaired by Cape High Court Judge Dennis Davis and the panelists included:

Azar Jammine - Chief Economist at Econometrix
Mduduzi Mbada - Special advisor to the Premier of Gauteng
Raenette Taljaard - Director of the Helen Suzman Foundation
Mamphela Ramphele - Anthropologist, medical doctor and businesswoman
Gill Marcus - Non-executive chairperson of the ABSA group

***

Azar Jammine and Mdudzi Mbada

1.) Azar Jammine was guardedly optimistic about the economic outlook for next year. He cited the weekend's G20 meeting which signaled a positive sense of inclusiveness for developing nations. Jammine noted that many were disappointed with the summit and the lack of concrete outcomes at the end of it. "But," he remarked dryly, "how do you solve 25 years of excess over a weekend?". He also noted that we are not going to see practical measures until the latter part of next year.

Jammine was confident that SA was going to "weather the current downturn possibly a little better than other countries." He cited the upcoming 2010 World Cup as evidence of this.

He also noted that consumers were going to get a break from all of the pressures of hyper-growth such as excessive fuel prices and strains on public infrastructure. Good news is that the cost of petrol is likely to come down by around R1.50 next month, he said.

Jammine ended by reminding the audience that "It doesn't mean we are going to have a boom year, but we can prevent ourselves from falling into full-scale recession."

The Econometrix director gave an articulate presentation, but I felt that he understated the threats that are looming for SA on the economic front. Needless cynicism should be avoided, but I don't know if the breezy optimism of Dr. Jammine's is appropriate either considering the right mess that the world's financial markets are in at the moment.

***

2.) Mdudzi Mbada filled in for his boss, the newly installed Premier of Gauteng, Paul Mashatile, who was attending an imbizo. I thought Mbada gave a modest performance, but perhaps I am being unkind because the quality of the panel was very high indeed.

Mbada cited several of the major projects that the Gauteng provincial government is involved in including infrastructure improvements in Soweto, sustaining the current trajectory of the World Cup planning and tackling unemployment. He talked about the need to "involve stakeholders" and to create "labour-absorbing" projects and to "respond holistically to crime". He even boasted of the stability in the provincial government, which I found interesting considering that the previous Premier recently felt compelled to step down!

This was official-speak of the dullest kind and it was concerning to see the lack of engagement with ideas or a willingness to recognise many of the grave social ills facing our province. Unfortunately, Mbada was stuck in a very narrow development paradigm, one that favours checking off the bullet points rather than articulating what policy will mean for people in real terms.

***

Raenette Taljaard

3.) Raenette Taljaard spoke next, and began by focusing on how our political lexicon has exploded over the last two years. New terms such as 'Pre-Polokwane,' 'Post-Polokwane', 'Pre-Recall' [of the President], 'Post-Recall', 'Pre-Cope' (and maybe next year, 'post-Cope'?) have all become common-place.

Taljaard also talked about the numerous shifts and changes of parties repositioning themselves and the new entry of Cope throwing things wide open. Referring to the SA National Convention, and specifically the "substantive re-launch of the Democratic Alliance" she said that "the proof of the pudding will be in the eating when we see the electoral lists".

She also noted the incredible spill-over of the Obama effect and how it has energised particularly young people to register to vote in upcoming elections in various parts of the world, and most notably at home.

For me, Taljaard's most revealing comment was that a generation of so-called "born-frees" will be voting for the first time in this election and that they will be "a new market with shifting loyalties and allegiances." She also cited recent surveys that are indicating the growing number of independent voters whose ballots will be up for grabs in 2009.

The biggest thing to watch out for, she said, was the very real possibility of coalition governments in at least four or five provinces in South Africa next year. This could really shake things up, especially considering the fact that provinces are allowed to draw up their own basic constitutions, which I didn't know.

She closed by saying that it will be of interest to see whether or not the blurring of party and state that we have witnessed in the recent past will be deepened by the new electoral threats or if it will recede. It could go either way was her summation.

***

4.) Mamphela Ramphele stole the show with her irreverent style and thoughtful comments. She spoke about Polokwane (her home town) as "the beginning of us aspiring to democracy. People were hoping for a split in the alliance, but it has gone the other way and is no longer ideological."

"The split has also ushered in the notion of legitimate opposition whereas before you could just be dismissed as DA. Now part of the family has moved into the illegitimate space."

"Whenever they are called, the coming elections will be like no other in the history of SA. Not just post-1994, but our entire history. This is a big plus, and we should really congratulate ourselves."

"But... but we have huge ghosts that are haunting every one of the political parties. We are all spooked about talking about race and class and gender. They are really frightening goggas! The dream is not deferred as Mark Gevisser says, but it is spooked by ghosts."

Dr. Ramphele also hoped for a more politically mature 2009, saying that she was sick of the paternalistic approach that many of our politicians take towards the polity. Rather, leaders are servants on behalf of the rest of us and real leadership should start with you and I. We must recognise that we have developed some very bad habits since 1994 and we have rested on our laurels. We must ask ourselves why we have allowed the active demobilization of civil society to happen. The private sector too has failed as a sector to uphold its responsibility. She observed that "No democracy in the world functions without a vigorous citizenry."

***

Dennis Davis, Mamphela Ramphele and Gill Marcus

5.) Gill Marcus offered a more sober view than some of the other panelists about the future prospects of South Africa saying that "we can have the best of intentions for 2009, but we are underestimating the gravity of the situation."

She noted that Europe and America are on the cusp of a major recession and that there are predictions of a negative growth rate of 4% in two quarters next year. In America they are looking at 1 in 10 home-owners having foreclosures on their houses.

If you look at certain East European states we are talking about country failures here, not just banks. The IMF simply doesn't have enough money to rectify the situation.

There are also major questions about global food capacity. For instance, Marcus noted that South Korea has just taken a lease on tens of thousands of hectares of land in Madagascar for agricultural cultivation. That is the cost they are prepared to pay to meet their food needs.

Add to this the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which suck up major human and financial resources and you have a pretty volatile world.

To think that this will not affect us is naive at best. "My argument is not pessimistic." she said "It's about recognising the problems and responding to them positively."

***

Overall, the level of debate was rigorous and many people came away with plenty of questions about our future - as well as some glimmers of answers. A big thank you to Nick Binedell and his team at GIBS for helping us to make sense of 2008 as it unfolded - what a year it was. Many things are uncertain in 2009, but what we can expect is the same level of contribution to our public life from this institution.

-

Photos by David Ansara

Interview with Helen Zille at the re-launch of the DA

2008-11-16T16:59:00.008+02:00

Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance, speaks to QPQ at the party's re-launch. She argues that from now on the DA will be concerned with governance, no longer confined to merely an opposition role. Bold promises, but can she deliver? David Ansara attempts to find out.

DA: This is David Ansara for Quid Pro Quo. We’re here with Helen Zille, two weeks after the South African National Convention when we spoke to her last. So tell us Helen, what is the significance of today? Explain this re-launch of the Democratic Alliance to us.

HZ: Today, the significance of our re-launch is to say the DA is a party of government. We’re not only a party of opposition, we’re a party that can be in government, has the best policies in government [that offers leadership] for all of the people, not just some of the people.

Our core values remain the same, freedom within the Constitution, equality of opportunity, responsibility; all of those are core values. We are committed to diversity and we’re committed to reflecting that diversity much more in the future. We want to convince every South African, and give them comfort that we will continue to stand up for everybody’s rights, their language rights, their cultural rights, their heritage, so that they can feel strong in the knowledge that they alone don’t have to fight their corner, and that everyone else stands with them and so that we stand up for each other. That’s the significance of what we are doing today.

DA: When the Democratic Alliance announced that this re-launch was going to be happening in your press release earlier in the week, you were quite frank about some of the limitations and some of the problems that you have experienced in attracting all South Africans to the party. What exactly is the DA going to be doing to try and attract South Africans from across the racial and class spectrum?

HZ: We are going to be the party that we claimed to be. We are going to reflect those values, we are going to show every body that merit means diversity, that diversity is part of merit, that we enrich each other, that we advance each other, that we defend each other and that we debate with each other and differ from each other within the constitution [and] the law. That is what we signify and no minority needs to stand up in a corner and feel threatened and marginalized because we will defend everybody’s rights together for each other, with each other.

DA: I was quite struck by the video presentation. One of the things that stood out for me is this nostalgia for the previous decade, for the heady days of the 1990s. How do you think we have lost sight of some that vision from that period? What’s gone wrong and how can we reclaim those dreams that you talk about?

HZ: What went wrong was that the ANC became a racial nationalist party. They started becoming a party for a few and not for many. They started a deployment policy that made people’s chances dependent on their links with powerful people in government. People couldn’t use their opportunities because their opportunities didn’t make a difference. It was who you knew, not what you could do. And that is the most fundamental problem. The ANC became a closed, patronage-driven organization for some with political connections. And that’s why today we are reviving the dream of the open, opportunity driven society for all. That is the South African dream.

DA: I’m looking at this brand new logo. Talk us through it. What’s the symbolism behind it, the colours?

HZ: Well, the symbolism is actually very simple. We wanted to have something that looked like a new dawn. So we wanted a morning sun and we have the morning sun rising over the rainbow. A feel-good logo.

DA: Call me cynical, but it reminds me quite a lot of the Obama logo, the sun rising, the rainbow. Is there an intended parallel there?

HZ: Well, there was no intended parallel, when I found out I was delighted by the coincidence because in fact somebody said to me after we had already worked on the logo and agreed on the logo “My goodness, it looks quite a lot like the Obama logo.” So I went onto the internet and looked at the Obama logo and I was very pleased that there was enough of a difference. His is red and blue and has completely different kinds of symbolism, ours is the morning sun over the rainbow.

DA: So how did you try and change it from the last logo, what was wrong with it?

HZ: There was nothing wrong per se with the last logo, it was just becoming stale, a little bit old and it had been put together by two officials in half an hour chatting together about whatever they wanted to see. Here we had some serious advice by people who know how to do these things; we had the idea and they did the concept for us.

DA: The last time I spoke to you, Ms. Zille, was at the South African National Convention.

HZ: Yes.

DA: And a lot of people are saying that this is an attempt by the DA to remind the electorate that they are still around after the new party has emerged on the scene. What would you say to that?

HZ: The coincidence of the Congress of the People was exactly that: just a coincidence. This event today was based on nine months of research, of planning, of sifting through that research material, of understanding what the voters are saying, how we mesh that with our animating values, our principles and our policies. And this was on the cards all of the time. It was quite unexpected that there would be a breakaway from the ANC before the election. We were going to do this at this time in our election planning and in our re-visioning of the party as a whole.

DA: I just have one question. You spoke about the benefit of a market-driven economy. And given the current crisis in the global financial scene, is the market still something that you feel is the engine-room of an economy or is the more developmental statist approach beginning to gather more credence?

HZ: If you look at my speech you will see that I say “an economy driven by the market, appropriately regulated.”

DA: Yes.

HZ: There are rules and checks and balances for every sector of society. If politicians can abuse their power, so can bankers, so can the market. We believe in rules for everybody and we believe in appropriate regulations. We believe that the state does have a role in the economy and in the real developmental state, which was pioneered in Japan, the state had a key role. They had the best people in the state, with the brightest minds, who made it easier for economic growth to happen through the market – and that’s the ideal.

So it’s not the incompetent state, meddling in the market and trying to pick winners. That was a perversion of the concept. So yes we do believe in the market, we believe it is the only mechanism that can generate sustainable growth, but we don’t believe that bankers or financial institutions should be above the rules or the law. That is why we supported the Credit Act in South Africa, which made it impossible for banks to lend money to people who could not afford to repay those loans - unlike in America. We fully supported that regulation because we felt it was appropriate.

DA: Alright, Ms. Zille, thank you very much for speaking with Quid Pro Quo.

HZ: It’s always a great pleasure. Thank you.

-

Photo by Jared Jeffrey.

Helen Zille relaunches the DA - full speech

2008-11-16T16:21:00.007+02:00

I attended the re-launch of the Democratic Alliance yesterday (Sat, 15 November, 2008) at Constitution Hill. Helen Zille, the party leader, revealed the new logo and slogan and set about repositioning the strategic direction for the organisation. I have reproduced the speech below:

What we have unveiled here today is not just a new logo, a different look. This is not a marketing exercise. It's much, much more than that. It's our promise - a promise that we will deliver on the South African dream for the rainbow people.

We signal here today a new approach - to South Africa, to the voters, to the future. There will be a new offer; a new style of campaigning; a new determination to address the injustices and transcend the racial divisions of our country's past.

We share a dream for South Africa with millions of people who do not yet identify with the DA, and millions more who do. Our mission, going forward, is to turn that dream into a reality.

We saw last week how in the United States of America, Barack Obama made history by overcoming history. He convinced people that they could. And so can we.

We can overcome our past; we can turn South Africa into a safe, prosperous, free society in which everyone has a fair shot at achieving their dreams, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth.

But as we move forward, we will not cut ourselves adrift from our animating values or our vision for South Africa. On the contrary, our core beliefs and the success we have enjoyed to date, are the foundation for our regeneration and renewal.

And so I want to spell out very clearly what stays the same, and what will change.

What stays the same is our vision of an open opportunity society for all, founded on the bedrock of our core values.

We have always cherished the rights and freedoms of every person, enshrined in a Constitution. We still do.

We have always stood for equal and ever-expanding opportunity. Not for some, but for all. We still do.

We have always believed in the dignity and equality of each and every person, and promoted the language, culture and heritage of all the rainbow people. We still do.

We have always fought for the security of the children, women and men of our country, who deserve to live without fear of criminals. We still do.

We have always been committed to clean government, and exposing corruption wherever it is found. We still are.

We have always believed in an economy driven by the market, appropriately regulated, focused on creating jobs, and a welfare safety net for those who cannot provide for themselves. We still do.

We have always championed tolerance, excellence and personal responsibility. They are core values.

We champion them still.

That's what stays the same.

Now here's what's new.

The DA is a party of government.

Let me say that again: Ons is ‘n party van regering; Siza kuba ngumbutho olawulayo kuRhulumente.

"Viva DA, viva! Viva, Helen Zille, viva!"

We are in government in Cape Town and in many other municipalities. We aim to be in government in various provinces after next year's election. We are determined to be in government in cities and towns across South Africa in 2011.

We will be part of national government in the near future.

Of course, where we are in opposition, we will always provide the critical oversight and policy alternatives that everyone expects of us, and our country requires of us.

But our purpose is not to be an opposition party. It is to be a party of government.

And so, from now on, the DA no longer offers opposition and nothing else.

From today, we offer the people of South Africa a government that really can deliver a better future. A future in which every person is free. Where everyone has access to life-changing opportunities. Where growth and prosperity are shared by all. Where every child is protected and safe. Where each and every language and culture is respected and protected.

That is our dream. That is our promise. That is what we offer and will deliver to the rainbow people.

Our new offer is reflected in the policy proposals we are currently rolling out, covering every area of public life in South Africa today.

Only the DA has a comprehensive policy alternative to the challenges our country faces. Because underlying our offer is real substance - comprehensively researched and carefully considered.

As you can see, our new logo reflects our new offer. It is a morning sun rising over the Rainbow Nation. It represents our dream of an open opportunity society for all. It lifts our sights and our spirits. It signals hope. And it is grounded in our love for diversity.

The DA is a party that cherishes diversity. Some people believe merit and diversity have to be traded off against each other in South Africa today. We say not so. Not at all.

Diversity lies at the heart of merit. Because diversity adds strength, adds insight, adds value, to each decision we make and every initiative we take.

And so we will ensure diversity inside our party, and fight for it outside of our party. It is a core value.

It will not be compromised.

That is why you will see a new DA emerge from here on. More diverse. More reflective of our rich racial, linguistic and cultural heritage. And more committed to providing excellence and equity in public service than ever before.

Friends, the DA loves South Africa. We love our rainbow people in all their glorious diversity. They are our inspiration and our hope.

We love the Constitution, which binds us to one another after so much division and despair.

We love the land itself: the winelands of the Cape; the haunting horizons of the Karoo, the Highveld after a thunderstorm; the majesty of the Drakensberg.

The DA will not let down the land we love. We will never give up our dream for the rainbow people.

We will go from this place and campaign, every day and every night. But not just for votes in an election. This is not an election campaign launch. This is the launch of a new vision for South Africa; a renewed determination to make the South African dream a living reality.

And so we will campaign without cease or respite, before and after the election, until our country really is a land of hope and opportunity, of peace and prosperity, of safety and security. For all the rainbow people.

Een nasie, met een toekoms

Sinye isizwe, linye ikamva

One nation, with one future.

Photos by David Ansara

Enkosi Mama Afrika!

2008-11-15T22:48:00.004+02:00

Miriam Makeba at the 2006 Cape Town Jazz Festival.

Written by Sakina Grimwood

Music played an important role in South Africa's liberation struggle and the voice of Zenzi Miriam Makeba was particularly influential in raising international awareness of the plight of the majority of this country. Mama Afrika herself was outspoken about the evils of the apartheid government, addressing the United Nations General Assembly on several occasions.

Makeba spent 31 years in exile from South Africa, returning in 1990. Her age did not deter her from performing in the years since, and in a tribute to her memory, Nelson Mandela was quoted as saying "[i]t was fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others - and again in support of a good cause".

Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the American Black Panthers to whom she was married for a decade, described discovering that "this attractive and apparently so gentle and mature woman was a very political creature, in fact an uncompromising militant where her people's freedom was concerned." In many ways, Makeba embodied the Black Consciousness woman who was proud of her heritage. Before American and European audiences she sang in indigenous African languages with her hair untouched by straighteners or weaves and without make-up – a powerful image and obviously very threatening to the old regime. It is little surprise that her South African passport was revoked.

After speaking before the Decolonisation Committee of the UN in 1963, Makeba was banned from returning to this country. In 1964 she also spoke before the UN Committee on Apartheid. When her mother died in 1963, Makeba was not allowed to re-enter to pay her respects. She could do so only after returning nearly three decades later.

A citizen of the world, Makeba performed at many events marking the end of a struggle and the beginning of liberation in countries across Africa. She sang in Nairobi at Kenyan independence, in Luanda, at Angolan independence, at the inauguration of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa and also for Samora Machel in Mozambique. In her time away from her homeland, to which she yearned to return, she became an honourary citizen of several countries.

Makeba's life was a tapestry of struggle and success. Her role in contributing to the awareness of the oppressive regime in our country must be remembered. Her music, contribution and achievements should be celebrated.

-

Photo by Mark Oppenheimer

DA 'relaunch' 10:00 for 10:30 tomorrow

2008-11-14T21:11:00.004+02:00

The DA is relaunching tomorrow (Saturday 15th November 2008) at the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. QPQ will be there to follow all the action.

These are my thoughts on the event.

(on the telly at 11h30)

Pallo Jordan at UJ tonight

2008-11-13T14:28:00.005+02:00

ANC NEC member Pallo Jordan is to deliver a lecture at the University of Johannesburg tonight. He is speaking as part of Xolela Mangcu's Platform for Public Deliberation. Dr. Mangcu has added a renewed vigour to UJ by bringing the Platform over from Wits.

However, apart from the footer in his Business Day columns, the marketing has been woefully inadequate for this event. A cursory look through Google has revealed little. All I know is that the focus will be on "current political developments". Obviously.

Here are the vitals:

WHERE: Council Chambers, University of Johannesburg (Kingsway Campus)

DATE: Thrusday 13 November, 2008

TIME: 18h00

Jordan is something of an unusual figure in contemporary politics. He has been on the receiving end of Thabo Mbeki's rath, having been sacked from the cabinet in 1999, only to be reinstated in 2004, albeit in the relatively minor post of Minister for Arts and Culture.

QPQ echoed Jordan's call for "generational change" in the ANC leadership prior to Polokwane, but as we all know that wasn't to pass. It is something of a mystery to me what his future will be under a Zuma presidency. Overall, I have often been impressed with Jordan's intelligent and nuanced approach to politics and his speech should continue with that tradition.

His master's voice speaks no more

2008-11-13T12:42:00.009+02:00

Smuts Ngonyama, former head of the Presidency, has resigned from the ANC to join the Congress of the People (COP/Cope). This is unsurprising given that Smuts was at the SA National Convention and was so closely associated with former President, Thabo Mbeki. Mr. Ngonyama discussed his thoughts on leaving the ANC with QPQ at the convention. Click here for the interview, the news article by Fiona Forde of The Star appears below.

Struggle stalwart Lulama "Smuts" Ngonyama has resigned from the ANC to join the Congress of the People (Cope), bringing to an end more than 30 years of party loyalty.

The 56-year-old former ANC spokesperson told Independent Newspapers that "it is with great, great sadness" that he has reached this point, but feels that he can no longer recognise the values of the liberation movement to which he belonged. "This is not the ANC I knew," he said.

Ngonyama was due to speak to the ANC this morning to make known his intentions before hosting a press conference.

Although he joins a host of other comrades who have walked away from the ANC in recent weeks, he thanked the party for giving him the political upbringing that they did, "for giving me the kind of attributes and values that will always stay with me," and for affording him the opportunity to work with a host of great leaders.
He made particular mention of former president Thabo Mbeki, with whom he worked closely for a number of years, "who groomed me to become what I am today. I am deeply, deeply thankful to him," Ngonyama said.

He also thanked the incumbent president, Kgalema Motlanthe, with whom he worked in Luthuli House while he was party spokesperson and while Motlanthe was Secretary General.

Ngonyama intends to become a member of the Cope when the party is launched on December 16th but says it is too early to say whether or not he will play an active role in its ranks. He is currently studying for a Masters in South African Political Economy at the University of Nelson Mandela as well as lending a helping hand to start the Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute. "I will have to weigh up all my responsibilities before we can begin to discuss that," Ngonyama said.

Ngonyama, who was born in Uitenhage, has held a number of high-ranking positions within the movement since he became an activist in the mid-1970s. He was elected to the NEC in 1994. Five years later became ANC party spokesperson, a position he held until the change in leadership at the Polokwane conference last December.

QPQ is hoping that COP/Cope will be able to draw many more disgruntled ANC members, but unfortunately Mr. Ngonyama comes with so much negative baggage from the Mbeki years that it is doubtful whether he will add value to the new organisation. Incididents such as his lashing out at political cartoonists (never a good idea as evidenced above), as well as the controversial dumping of Telkom shares stand out in my mind. I am wondering if being out of power will have a transformational effect on Mr. Ngonyama or if it will be more of the same from an old ANC aparatchik.

See also the M&G: 'Smuts Ngonyama cuts ties with ANC'

Social Justice Coalition marches against the Arms Deal

2008-11-11T18:10:00.008+02:00

Below is a call by the Social Justice Coalition to protest against the stifling of the Arms Deal investigations and the pervasive criminality in South Africa. Both of these issues have had a substantially negative effect on the welfare of our people and are reason alone to take to the streets. The march will take place tomorrow evening at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town. Be there if you care:

We, the people, live in fear. Fear of guns. Fear of knives. Fear of those who carry them. Fear follows us to school in the morning. Fear follows us home from the train at night. Fear stands in the shadows as we walk to the clinic. Fear is behind us in the queue at the bank. Fear waits for us in the street after collecting our pensions. We all fear crime. We are poor, we are rich, we women and men and children. We are refugees and immigrants. We are Christians and Muslims, Hindus and Jews. We are atheists and Buddhists. We are straight, gay and lesbian. This fear is amongst us all.

Our Constitution guarantees the rights to life, freedom, dignity, safety and security, as well as, open and accountable government. We know that we will not be safe and secure until there is social justice for all. We will not have social justice if we are not safe and secure.

One of the biggest obstacles to achieving safety and security is fact that our Cabinet in the past acted unlawfully on the arms deal, our former President protected a Commissioner of Police who by his own admission was a friend of criminals who bought him presents. Our Executive who believes they are accountable only to themselves. We need political leaders who are held to account and put the people first. The arms deal is an example of waste, corruption and a cover-up by the whole Cabinet under President Mbeki.

Why did our leaders spend over R50 billion on arms deals to buy warships and jets and bullets to protect us from attack when the real threat is poverty and inequality? Did they do this because it makes politicians rich? Did they do this because they made secret deals with foreign arms companies? How could they do this when they don’t understand the real fear we live in? In a case on the Road Accident Fund, the Constitutional Court said:

Corruption and maladministration are inconsistent with the rule of law and the fundamental values of our Constitution. They undermine the constitutional commitment to human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. They are the antithesis of the open, accountable, democratic government required by the Constitution. If allowed to go unchecked and unpunished they will pose a serious threat to our democratic State.

We ask President Kgalema Mothlanthe to lead us:

No more secrets. To know all the secrets behind the billion rand arms deal. It is time for an independent judicial commission of enquiry to investigate and reveal the truth. There can be no real rule of law unless government is open about the arms deal.

One law for all people. The arms companies from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden who corrupted our leaders and public servants and who stole our money must all be prosecuted in a court. The rich and powerful must face justice if they have stolen from the people. Our Constitution must be used to protect us from these people.

No immunity for arms companies. The companies who paid these bribes must also appear in court and their bosses must also go to jail if found guilty. For too long have they corrupted our people across the African continent.

An end to arms deals that steal from the people. Our nation must be able to protect itself – but not at the cost of social justice. No more arms deals until we have social justice and safety and security for all.

Safety and Security for all on the basis of social justice – this means the rights to decent housing, safe transport and streets, safe schools and playgrounds, safe clinics and homes.

-

I stand in awe of the SJC's organisational ability. Yet more proof that grassroots civil society is just way cooler than anything that party politics has to offer. Can anybody tell me if the Coalition is active in Johannesburg?

Book Launch: Go Home or Die Here

2008-11-10T17:48:00.006+02:00

Wits University is hosting a book launch on Thursday 13 November at the Origins Centre (18h00). The volume, entitled Go Home or Die Here: Violence, xenophobia and the reinvention of difference in South Africa examines the xenophobic surge that irrupted in May of this year.

The attacks may have ended, but the problem has not gone away. Books like this one are necessary for unlocking the reasons for those terrible events and what can be done in future to avoid such things from happening again. Click on the image below to read the full details.

The blurb of the book:

"The xenophobic attacks that started in Alexandra, Johannesburg in May 2008 caused an outcry across the world. Go Home or Die Here emanates directly from the urgent colloquium, convened by the Faculty of Humanities in the University of the Witwatersrand, which addressed the unfolding violence in ways that were conversant with the moment, yet rooted in scholarship and ongoing research. This is a passionate and engaged volume that aims to stimulate reflection, debate and activism among concerned members of a broad public.

The book is extensively illustrated in full colour by The Times photographer Alon Skuy."

-

Hat tip to Alex Comninos at SA Connect for notifying me of the event.

Democratic Alliance 2: Resurrection

2008-11-10T14:51:00.011+02:00

PoliticsWeb is carrying a statement by Helen Zille that the Democratic Alliance is to be 're-launched' at Constitution Hill this Saturday 15 November. According to Zille, the DA has conducted research into its levels of national support which has revealed an increase in potential voters for the party. She writes:

This appetite for change was illustrated this past weekend when we saw huge numbers of new voters registering to vote. The turnout was unprecedented. Our figures tell us that five times as many DA supporters registered to vote this weekend than in the first registration weekend before the 2004 election. People want change and they are prepared to go to the polls next year to be part of the change they want to see.

Zille also acknowledged that the following among black Africans had been less than forthcoming in the past, something the DA is hoping to change:

But our research also told us that the DA has significant potential among voters who share our values but who have not historically supported us. The reasons are complex and varied, but are essentially a function of South Africa 's history of racial division. We are determined to do whatever possible to overcome those barriers, transcend race and enable all South African who share our values to give us their support.

It would surely benefit the DA to extend its reach to previously disadvantaged communities. But how are they to achieve this without alienating their core constituency of middle class minorities who savoured the strident critiques of government that Tony Leon, the previous leader, so frequently articulated? Being an "uppity white" helped Leon garner the old Nat votes but limited his appeal to black voters.

It is therefore encouraging to see the opposition being frank about how demographics have constrained politics since 1994 and attempting to forge something new. Whether you support the DA or not, this is a welcome departure from the "Fight B(l)ack" days of the late nineties and good for racial unity in SA.

The timing of this event is also significant as it attempts to harness some of the energy generated by the SA National Convention of two weeks ago. The DA must be mindful of the challenge posed by the ANC-breakaway , the Congress of the People. The high levels of disaffection towards the ruling party was putting the DA in a good position, but the CoP is threatening to eat into those gains. Methinks that this relaunching is intended as a reminder that the DA is still around.

Don't expect a fundamental change of identity nor a realignment of policy but rather the initiation of the 2009 election campaign.

Voter registration this weekend

2008-11-07T16:33:00.008+02:00

Click to enlarge.

QPQ is urging its readers to get out and register to vote at their local voting station tomorrow and Sunday.

See the information in the above image or go to the Independent Electoral Commission's website for more details. URL:

http://www.elections.org.za/

Speaking of the IEC site; it has come to my attention that it only runs on Internet Explorer, which is a major oversight. Considering the fine record of the Commission in the past I am hoping that these kinds of errors will not become a permanent feature of their work.

If I were a conspiracy theorist I would be spinning some ripping good yarns about secret agendas at the IEC. Thankfully I'm not, but it is rather suspicious and I can think of no good reason why they would limit access to a single browser. C'mon guys, there are plenty of geeks out there - hire them!

If you are a Chrome or Firefox user and you want to know how to circumvent these problems see the fine new blog on everything ICT, South Africa Connect.

Specifically, this article:

'How to hack into the IEC website with a non-IE browser in two easy steps'

SA Connect is co-authored by Alex Comninos, a friend of mine from UCT. Alex is a fusion of computer nerd and social scientist and he is thus perfectly placed to speak meaningfully about the role that ICT plays in our lives. I will be watching this blog with a keen eye, as so far the posts have been very interesting (including this one on Obama as the world's first Web 2.0 president).

Hat tip to Nic at SA Rocks for the original image of the registration poster. BTW, Nic is becoming quite the activist these days and has really shed a lot of critical light on political awareness in his recent posts. Good to see, Nic.

Debate: Is the SABC becoming a state broadcaster?

2008-11-05T16:53:00.006+02:00

Click to enlarge advert.

Date: 10 November 2008

Time: 18:00 for 18:30

Venue: Wits Great Hall, East Campus (Parking in Senate House Basement)

From the blacklisting of commentators considered too critical of Government, the resignation of respected editorial staff, controversial programmes being pulled off the air, controversy over the appointment of the board, the suspension of senior managers and court room drama to Parliament’s vote of no confidence in the board and proposed new legislation empowering it to dismiss the board, some say the SABC has become a state broadcaster.

Will the SABC be impartial and independent in covering political developments including the emergence of a new party and the run up to the elections? What should be done to reclaim the SABC and transform it into a genuine public broadcaster in the interests of democracy?

Join the Faculty of Humanities at Wits and The Weekender in association with the Save Our SABC Coalition in a public debate with some of the top media analysts.

Panellists include:

Mathatha Tsedu, former Editor-in-Chief: City Press and Head: Media 24 Journalism Academy;
Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Wits;
Nadia Bulbulia, SABC Board Member and former ICASA Councillor;
Dr Jane Duncan, Executive Director of the Freedom of Expression Institute;
Kate Skinner, Coordinator: Save Our SABC Coalition.
The debate will be facilitated by Prof. Tawana Kupe, Dean of the Wits Faculty of Humanities

For media enquiries contact:

Prof. Tawana Kupe, email tawana.kupe@wits.ac.za

Kate Skinner, email kate.skinner@mweb.co.za

***

UPDATE: Unfortunately I won't be able to attend this event tonight, but I would be very interested to see hear how it goes.

Voices of the SANC: Helen Zille

2008-11-05T00:00:00.006+02:00

Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's official opposition party, speaks to David Ansara at the SA National Convention in Sandton (1 Nov 2008). She discusses the health of democracy in SA, proposals for reviewing the electoral system, as well as the prospect of a governing coalition with the new political party after the 2009 elections.

DA: Ms. Zille, that was a rousing speech that you gave just now. What are your initial impressions of the convention so far and what do you make of the leadership and the kind of messages that are coming out of them?

HZ: Well this convention is very encouraging. It shows how many South Africans are prepared to stand up for the constitution. For the last ten years we in the DA have felt like voices in the wilderness. We’ve been raising these points for fifteen years now and every time we’ve been dismissed - some people have called us racist - and I was quite concerned that South Africa was drifting into a one-party dominated state and that we could risk going like Zimbabwe.

After today, and after the developments that I think today will trigger, there’s no chance of us going the way of Zimbabwe. What we have to do is make sure that the values and the rhetoric that was here today gets translated into the kinds of outcomes we want to see. First of all, the values and policies and everything that go with it.

DA: What do you think this new organization needs to do in order to achieve those stated goals? How do they sustain the momentum that they’re gathering at the moment?

HZ: Well, no new organization has yet been established. Today’s forum and tomorrow’s forum is just a debate and a platform for people to state their views. The DA won’t join the new organization and certainly won’t disband. We are going to continue our organization, the Democratic Alliance, we’ve stood for these ideas for fifteen years (and much, much longer, before the democratic constitution) and we will continue to champion them. We will fight the elections all over the country. And after those elections if we can establish governing coalitions with people who share our values and share our principles we will do that.

DA: Gwede Mantashe, the Secretary General of the ANC, has dismissed this movement and the potential for a breakaway party as possibly having a damaging impact on other opposition parties – cannibalizing the other opposition parties. What do you make of those type of statements?

HZ: Gwede Mantashe is making a big mistake. That is the ANC spin; that is the South African Communist Party spin. They know precisely that most of the people this new movement is going to take are from the heart of the ANC. Look around you today and it will tell you.

DA: Right Ms. Zille, thank you very much.

HZ: Thanks very much..

DA: Um, one last question. The new party - or the potential new party - are talking about being the custodians of democratic values and the protectors of the constitution. That is a message that the DA has often broadcast to the South African electorate. What needs to be done to protect the autonomy of the judiciary and to ensure that we are guided by constitutional values in South Africa?

HZ: Well, I’m delighted that other people are starting to speak our language now as well in terms of the rule of law, in terms of the supremacy of the constitution and all of those important things. What South Africans need to do is ensure that they never vote for one party in such large numbers again. No party in a constitutional democracy should have a two-thirds majority. That’s asking for trouble and in a democracy people get the government they deserve.

DA: On the question of the electoral system, one of the proposals has been a mixed constituency and proportional representation system in lieu of the current PR system that we have. Do you think that this will have a positive impact on the way that politics is run in South Africa?

HZ: We fully support constituency-based and proportional representation together. We have a clear proposal on that and we would like to achieve the outcome of ultimate proportionality with accountability to the voters. That is our aim.

DA: And a direct presidential election system – is that part of your proposal?

HZ: Directly electing the president, the premiers and mayors is not yet part of our proposal but we’re looking at it with great interest. We think that if that were part of the system of government in South Africa the parties would consider a little bit more carefully before deciding who to put up into those positions.

DA: Just a final point. You suggested the possibility of a broad coalition of opposition parties. What conditions do you think need to be in place for that to happen?

HZ: Well I’m talking about a broad coalition to put us in government and not for perpetual opposition. We’re in politics to be in government. When we’re in opposition we will do that job as well as possible – which is very well – and when we’re in government we will also have the opportunity to implement our policies.

DA: Would that be based on some of the successes you’ve had in Cape Town using the broad coalition model?

HZ: Most certainly we will build upon the developing success we’ve been having in Cape Town. But the fact is before you go into a coalition with anyone there has got to be agreement on broad things like the Open Society, the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. Not patronage, manipulation, power abuse and self-enrichment. We have to have an agreement on principles and we have to stand together against power abuse. Unless that is the case there is no basis upon which to form a coalition.

DA: Okay, thank you very much, that really is the end now!

HZ: Thanks very, very much.

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Photos by David Ansara & Jared Jeffrey

Voices of the SANC: Smuts Ngonyama

2008-11-04T00:31:00.006+02:00

Smuts Ngonyama, former ANC spokesperson, chats briefly to David Ansara at the SA National Convention.

DA: Smuts Ngonyama, can I get a comment from you about today’s events? Encouraging? Disappointing? Where to from now?

SN: This event was quite exciting; informative, quite sobering I must say. It was sobering in the sense that… I mean I grew up in the ANC myself, I never thought that another formation would be able to pull a big gathering of this kind.

DA: Do you think it’s going to be able to sustain the momentum that it’s built up over the last couple of weeks?

SN: Definitely. It’s very clear that here we are going to see something that is going to roll for some time.

DA: What kind of policy proposals or trajectory do you think the new movement’s going to take?

SN: Already they have emphasized the question of rural development which is quite exciting. And the question of poverty, which means - contrary to what has been said – it is not an elitist thing. This formation is worried about what is happening on the ground with regards to poverty, the inequalities of our country and all that. But at the same time the unity and the values of our country; the unity of our society and across racial lines.

DA: Very important thing as well: constitutional principles.

SN: Absolutely.

DA: That was emphasized a lot, but how is that going to be defended? How is the autonomy of the courts, the judiciary [going to be upheld]?

SN: Very important, very important…

DA: Okay, thank you Mr. Ngonyama.

SN: Thank you very much.

-

Photo by Jared Jeffrey

Helen Zille address to the SA National Convention

2008-11-03T23:36:00.003+02:00

Address by the Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, to the National Convention, Sandton, November 1 2008.

I think when we look back in history; this convention could be a turning point in our democracy.

I had the great honour to have been at Codesa 15 years ago, and it is an honour for me to be here today.

At Codesa our job was to negotiate a new Constitution, which guaranteed the liberties of all our people. From the moment that Constitution was adopted, our job was to defend it.

This is why we are here today. To defend our Constitution from power abuse, and to ensure that the rights enshrined in that document, become a living breathing reality for all South Africans.

When Mhlekazi Lekota first announced this convention, he said its purpose was to discuss some very important challenges we face:

Protecting the Constitution
Defending the rule of law and equality before the law
Fighting corruption and taking a stand against those who seek power for personal enrichment
Building national, humane and moral values
Promoting independent civil society, and
Directly electing key leaders in our society, such as the President, Premiers and Mayors.

My party, the Democratic Alliance, has been at the forefront of this debate - not just for the past 15 years - but for decades. That is why it is the logical and right thing for us to be here today, to be part of this discussion.

It is encouraging that more and more of us are talking about these issues, seeing the threat to the Constitution, standing up against power abuse and saying: "Tot hier toe en nie verder nie. Genoeg is genoeg!"

In many ways, the politics of the past is outdated. It is very sad that we are still trapped in the rhetoric of race. We must move beyond this.

We must look more deeply at people than the colour of their skin.

We must look at each others' values and principles. We must look at the things that bring people together, not those that divide them.

We have been doing this in the multi-party government in Cape Town where we have a successful coalition of six parties, bringing hope and bringing change for all the people of that city, not just for some.

That is the pattern of the future. Coalitions based on principles and values can work. They build bridges. They take us into the future. They do not keep us trapped in the past. And they can work for everyone.

That is where we are going into the future. Ikamva esi zandleni zethu.

More and more, politics is becoming a clear choice between two clear alternatives:

The open, fair and just society that gives opportunity to everyone; or
The closed, boetie-boetie society where the small group in power abuses its power to create favours and advantages for a few

We are here today to promote the open, opportunity driven society for all.

We hope this convention will prove to be an important step on this road.

Issued by the Democratic Alliance November 1 2008

Photo by David Ansara.

Voices of the SANC: Mluleki George

2008-11-03T22:12:00.004+02:00

Mluleki George, former Deputy Minister of Defense, speaks to David Ansara about the SA National Convention, its achievements and plans for the future.

DA: Mluleki George, what are your impressions of today – a success?

MG: Well not just a success, but a great success. We are happy and we got what we wanted from the whole of South Africa. We are moving forward.

DA: When you look back on this moment five, ten, fifteen years from now what is the memory that is going to stand out from today?

MG: The memory today is that after many years we gathered all the people of South Africa under one roof, from all walks of life, and we talked about the problems of the country.

DA: What do you think is the biggest challenge for this movement?

MG: The biggest challenge of course is to market itself; it’s a new organization so it must market itself. Secondly of course it must raise funds because to win elections we must have a reasonable amount to come [sic].

DA: Where to now? Are you going to go back to the Eastern Cape to meet with your constituency?

MG: Yes, definitely.

DA: What are you going to tell them about today?

MG: We are going to tell them that now we are on the move. They must go to all the people in the Eastern Cape and tell them that we want to win the Eastern Cape. We don’t think winning the Eastern Cape is an issue to us. It’s the question of how much and what will be the extent of our successes.

DA: We’ve talked about what’s going on in your head; what’s going on in your heart? Is this a poignant moment for you?

MG: It's a very important moment. You know it’s excitement but at the same time regret. We never thought we would talk about us leaving the ANC.

DA: I suppose when you joined the ANC the history was behind that movement and now the history is yours to make in the future.

MG: That’s exactly what I’m saying. We never thought that one day we would leave the ANC. That’s it - it’s a very emotional moment. It’s not an easy thing.

DA: Well, we wish you all the best of luck. Thank you for talking to Quid Pro Quo.

MG: Thank you very much.

Photo by Jared Jeffrey.

SADC: A better name than 'Shikota'

2008-11-03T10:13:00.006+02:00

News is that the breakaway party has a name. It will be called the SA Democratic Congress. Writes Gaye Davis of Independent Newspapers: 'Two parties, two tunes'

Organisers are expected to register the party, expected to be called the South African Democratic Congress (SADC), with the Independent Electoral Commission today.

I like the sound of this name, even if it does resemble a certain regional block (it will have to be pronounced differently to "Sadeck" to avoid confusion) and it's important to have the words "Democratic" and "Congress" in there. Although it will be crucial for the new group to be able to lay claim to the struggle and its traditions, it is better to not be so closely affiliated with the ANC brand as it could just look derivative. So SADC hits the right note.

On the question of leadership:

The decision on the new party's name was taken behind closed doors at a meeting of the convention's steering committee, where an interim leadership structure was also decided.

It sees former defence minister and ANC chair Mosiuoa Lekota, the man who spearheaded the convention initiative, emerging as its chairman.

Former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa, although widely tipped to lead the party, is deputy chair.

One of the concerns is on who will lead this organisation. Shilowa is urbane, has a good govenance record and is charming with the press. He also led the media conference yesterday and it was speculated - by Steven Friedman specifically - that the former Guateng Premier would lead the group. This no longer seems to be the case, although it was Lekota who catalysed the rebels in the first place so it shouldn't be too surprising. My hope is that the new movement doesn't get riven apart by the petty ambitions of a few.

It is also notable how the name was chosen. At the end of the conference several provincial delegations were clustered around the convention hall drafting proposals. Although the steering committee had the final say there was still an attempt to have a participatory process in place. Hopefully such practices will be codified and institutionalised in the near future.