We will not wake up one day and find that democracy has become an empty shell overnight, its institutions denuded, its meaning lost in a haze of rhetoric, pomp and form without substance. Democracy dies slowly, its checks and balances eroded one by one, its institutions hobbled by shallow demagogues with no interest in protecting a system South Africans fought so long and hard for.
The Mail & Guardian‘s series on the axing of Travelgate whistle-blower Harry Charlton bears witness to the weakening of commitment to a key democratic institution. Since 1999, we have witnessed the steady undermining of Parliament as a watchdog and tribune of the people. The executive’s determination not to be answerable to MPs over the arms deal dealt a death-blow to the public accounts committee; question time has been eroded; committee members have generally been too lily-livered to interrogate ministers from their own parties; legislation has been twisted out of shape by the National Council of Provinces. We had Travelgate Mark 1, involving fraud of at least R16-million; now we have Travelgate 2, with another R19-million at issue.
To tell the story in plain language: more than 100 MPs, a quarter of the total, have been fingered. These so-called guardians of our hard-won democracy stooped to cheating on their ticket stubs for rides in Audi TTs, sojourns at Maputo’s Polana hotel and the like. They colluded with a handful of travel agents to sell their souls. And now the man who blew the whistle on their misdeeds has lost his job while investigating further fraud. The demagogues who fired him, Parliament’s head honcho, Zingile Dingani, and the North-West legislature’s secretary, Baba Schalk, say that it is a “mirage” to suggest he is being punished for trying to expose wrongdoing.
We beg to differ. Charlton’s crusade became too embarrassing for the fraudulent MPs and Dingani, a deployee of the ruling ANC tasked with managing Parliament.
An investigation into the crooked travel agents will find that they, too, network with the new parliamentary elite.
The axing of Charlton is little more than a closing of ranks when the heat is on. Rather than rooting out the rot in order to protect the institution, the ANC in parliament has opted to shoot the messenger.
It is a shameful episode, particularly in the context of the anti-corruption drive the ANC has trumpeted in its local government election manifesto. How can councillors be expected to toe the line if their seniors in the national government do not?
The saga underscores the need for the whole deployment policy, originally intended by the ruling party to transform institutions inherited from apartheid, to be terminated. Dingani, a deployee, has shown himself unable to rise above the influence and dictates of the ANC caucus at Parliament, though their imperatives are driven by little other than self-interest. After 12 years, it should be possible to staff our institutions of democracy with democrats, rather than self-seeking party hacks.
As Parliament opens amid pomp and fanfare next Friday, as the president strides up Government Avenue and the MPs strut their way into the assembly, real democrats should ask: Where exactly is the mirage?
Horribly spoilt children
Several of Africa’s traditional footballing powers won’t be at this year’s World Cup and expectations were that they would use the current Africa Cup of Nations to avenge national honour; to prove that failure to reach Germany was a blip, not the sign of a deeper malaise. Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal and even hosts Egypt — whose clubs dominate the continent, but whose national team often flatters to deceive — have recorded emphatic wins in the first week of the tournament.
Bafana Bafana, who went to France 98 and Japan/Korea four years ago, were also expected to reassert themselves. Even if it didn’t win Afcon 2006, with a new coach at the helm, South Africa was meant to show the watching world that it is confidently building a side capable of challenging for the top prize when the country hosts the 2010 World Cup.
Irrespective of Thursday’s result against Tunisia, what Bafana Bafana have instead proved with defeat against Guinea and squabbles over how much they will be paid is that they are indeed boys. Horribly spoiled children, let out in the nominal care of a nutty uncle while their parents look on indulgently from afar, seemingly impervious to shame or embarrassment.
Events in Cairo have not brought a storm of protest from fans because we have become accustomed to such reports. Bafana’s participation in a major tournament doesn’t seem complete without a coaching crisis, a spat about money, one or more players going AWOL and rumours of divisions in the camp over race.
Everyone loves a winner, and South Africans might just tolerate this childishness if it were offset by excellent results. Instead, as shown by empty stadiums when the team plays at home, we’re tired of the brats.
As usual in such cases, blame rests with the “parents”, the South African Football Association (Safa). Previous appeals, in the name of national pride, for Safa to get its house in order for 2010 have failed. The appointment of a world-class coach, the identification and development of young players and the introduction of some discipline both on and off the field are just some of the more urgent requirements. But as far as the Safa bosses are concerned, these issues seems secondary to feathering their own nests.
Perhaps, then, this will focus their minds: the most financially successful Olympics and World Cups have been those where the locals joined the party.
Greed might encourage them to try to make the people love the boys again.