/ 26 April 2005

Thabo Mbeki: Credit where credit is due

South Africa has made advances in buttressing democracy since the end of apartheid in 1994 and the nation’s second black President, Thabo Mbeki, is the ”pre-eminent political figure” in the process, a respected thinktank said on Monday.

The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), said Mbeki — who succeeded anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela — has consolidated democracy but failed to adequately deal with poverty.

”Chronic poverty, inequality of access to opportunities, and issues of political space has weakened the gains of democratic consolidation under Mbeki,” said Richard Calland, one of the co-authors of Idasa’s ”Democracy Index”.

According to unofficial estimates, unemployment is as high as 42%, a situation unlikely to change soon.

The index described Mbeki as ”the pre-eminent political figure” in South Africa’s democratic consolidation.

”Nelson Mandela was the hero, the global icon, who secured and gave international prominence to the struggle for, and ultimate acquisition of democratic majority rule,” the index said.

”But it was Mbeki who has shouldered the primary responsibility for the strategic and political choices and the leadership that have framed the journey from the much revered and heady days of the miracle of 1994 to the less dramatic yet vital period of democratic consolidation.”

Calland however said while there was freedom of speech now there was a price to pay for opposing the ruling African National Congress.

”There is full freedom of speech but it comes with a price. What this means is that arguing with the ANC has its own price both within the ruling party and outside,” he said.

The index gave the country’s democratic advance a 63% mark.

The index measured democracy in South Africa under various themes, which included ”executive accountability” and ”legislative oversight”, and ”human dignity and democracy”, among others.

”Our gravest concern related to political parties … party discipline is very strong and one of the implications of tough party discipline is that politicians are generally reluctant to engage individually with the media and the public,” said academic Christina Murray, who authored few chapters of the book.

Murray said strong party discipline devalued Parliament.” – Sapa-AFP