Mondli waka Makhanya
FROM Wilmot James’ office in the Cape Town suburb of Rondebosch one can see the gates of the president’s Westbrooke residence. And if one gets there early enough, one can see a procession of ministers and officials exiting from President Nelson Mandela’s legendary early morning meetings.
So it is quite apt that it’s from this office that the new director of the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (Idasa) will be keeping a beady eye on the government. Having taken over from Idasa co-founder Alex Boraine at the beginning of August, James’ task is to transform Idasa from a facilitator of the transition to a watchdog over the performance and accountability of the government.
“In the past Idasa’s work has concentrated on building up civil society and facilitating contact between the establishment and the ANC. Now our task will be to entrench a democratic order. We will assist the goverment in areas we can deliver a service and serve as a critical ally,” says James.
Describing himself as “essentially an academic”, the ex- head of the University of Cape Town’s sociology de- partment has an informal air.
Observers in political and academic circles agree that James’ accession to the post could propel Idasa into being “the” watchdog over elected officials. He has the right profile. He is black. And while he has a history of political activism, he bears no one party’s flag. The timing of his takeover is ideal: he takes the reins at a time when Idasa needs to shift from being identified as “a Boraine and Slabbert outfit”.
It is Idasa’s public profile that James is going to have to change.
“By virtue of the circumstances that shaped it, the organisation has been white, liberal and English. But it now needs to be driven home to people that it is no longer the extension of the Progressive Federal Party and the Democratic Party,” says James.
This will involve making Idasa’s staff more representative of South Africa’s population.
Raised in Athlone, James was active in the Non-European Unity Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. As a student at the University of the Western Cape in the 1970s, he supported the Black Consciousness movement, leaving in 1977 for five years’ study in the United States.
James, who describes his political philosophy as “somewhere on the margins of liberal democrat and social democrat”, intends steering Idasa into a position where it will not only monitor but also intervene constructively.
Apart from continuing its work of engaging in policy debates and making submissions on legislation, there are projects aimed at increasing its monitoring capacity.
Idasa is to open a Public Service Centre to research and monitor public expenditure around the RDP and make information available to the public. A parliamentary information service will also be started.
A regular in-depth survey will also be conducted to “keep our fingers on the pulse of the nation”. A team is in the field, surveying attitudes on issues such as the Truth Commission and the location of parliament.
James’ administrative skills are untested. Having run a relatively small university department, he may find himself stretched at having to run a national organisation and mould it into something different. “But then,” said one observer, “how many of our new ministers have done anything more than run Shell House departments?”