Impinging, as it does, on the font of the new South Africa, the row between Judge Johann Kriegler and the government over the organisation of the next general election is obviously a matter of major concern to the country. But we cannot help but fear that it is symptomatic of an even wider and more worrying malaise in the body politic.
The circumstances surrounding the row are still not clear. The president, with bumbling good intentions which would be admirable if they did not strike at the roots of transparency in the government, has endeavoured to “protect” the judge from himself by refusing to detail the background to the dispute. What has emerged is alarming.
On the face of it, the row is fundamentally over resources – the impossibility, as the judge sees it, of staging an election with the limited funding available. It is a handicap which is exacerbated by such factors as the government’s insistence on the possession of the new, bar-coded identity document as a franchise qualification.
If that was all there was to the matter, it would be relatively clear- cut. If Judge Kriegler feels he is not up to the job, then it is correct that he should resign and make way for someone who is capable of carrying out the task.
But it seems that this is not all. The anxious assurances given by President Nelson Mandela that the “independence” of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is not at stake is a reliable indicator – particularly in the absence of any prior charge to that effect – that the independence of the commission is the central issue.
On top of that we hear mumblings of “racism” coming from government quarters. We have, after five years, had enough experience to appreciate that when African National Congress politicians start playing the race card they are almost certainly trying to cover something up – perhaps an abuse of the high principles which they enunciated with such passion prior to their discovery of the realities and temptations of power.
Finally, there are references – in the government briefings which we are urged to assure our readers never took place, as well as opaque statements made by Judge Kriegler – to divisions within the IEC itself.
Pieced together it is not difficult to come up with a rough outline of what might have been going on. The crusty old chairman was outraged by what he sees as a violation of his independence; some other commissioners were less fierce in defence of their independence; ANC officials saw and exploited a chance to drive a wedge through the commission; and ANC officials have since tried to pass the whole matter off as another instance of the inherent racism of members of the judiciary left over from the old regime.
Maybe, under his robes, Judge Kriegler sports the uniform of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and he goes to bed at night in pyjamas embroidered with the face of PW Botha. We very much doubt it. His appointment to the Constitutional Court is surely certification that – while he may sometimes appear intellectually arrogant and as such intolerant and abrasive – he is no racist.
Judge Kriegler has distinguished himself as a supremely competent, fair judge of unimpeachable integrity.
It is difficult not to conclude that Mandela’s instinct for reconciliation – which has been his great gift to the nation – and his desire to protect the judge’s dignity and save him from being dragged through the mud of public controversy have led him into an attempted cover-up. That is unfortunate because by denying the public the facts of the dispute we are not advancing democracy, which is surely all about the country’s right to know and decide for itself.
As the full story of the IEC row begins to unravel it becomes apparent that we are dealing with a divided presidency and that power now lies very much in the hands of the heir-apparent, Thabo Mbeki, who brings a very different mindset to the equation. The conflict, in fact, is symptomatic of the leadership style of a man whose instinct is seemingly the centralisation of control.
The question now is how, with the limited time and resources available, do we make the best of a bad situation? Surely it is time for all parties to put their pride in their pockets. The government, for a start, must get rid of the bar-coded ID requirement for registration, come to a political deal with the opposition and allow an all-ID election.
Engaging instead in crude exercises in “spin-doctoring” is not going to solve these problems – and, in fact, is even more worrying than the issues which ostensibly lie at the centre of the row over Judge Kriegler’s resignation.
Democracy is not imperilled by too much transparency. It is certainly in danger, however, if the credibility of the election is brought into question.