Marx provides the key to understanding the ANC’s forthcoming 52nd national conference in Polokwane. Not Karl but Groucho Marx: ”I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” To the ANC, the ruling party is the state, and each citizen must play her role in the ”national democratic revolution”, whether she votes ANC or not.
There is nothing to ”debate”. The ”national democratic revolution” will simply discover the truth on its own — or, more accurately, the truth will be dictated to it, and everyone will pretend to have had the same thought all along. A newspaper like the Mail & Guardian has no place in such a ”debate” — not only because it will be ignored but also because the whole NDR idea is hostile to the freedom of thought on which a newspaper depends.
And so I write this column under some protest. Not because I have no say in what the ANC does — I can still say what I like about it, just as the ANC says what it likes about me — but because there are two national party conferences this year, not one.
There are certainly many pressing issues to discuss — about the challenges South Africa faces today, and how to address them. And, as usual, the ANC has published a large stack of high-minded pre-conference papers. But anyone who thinks the ANC conference is going to be about the issues is deluding himself. It will be a battle of personalities, not policies — one that will leave deep and lasting scars.
There is a new language in the ANC’s discussion documents — a hint of ambiguity, a softer touch than in previous years — but there are no new ideas. The basic terms and the core ambitions remain the same: to achieve control over every part of our society, right down to the very ”soul” of the nation, so that the ANC can carry out its supposedly historic mission.
There is an alternative vision in South Africa today — one that does not look to the ANC to provide our freedom, but claims that freedom is a natural right belonging to every individual, guaranteed to all by our Constitution. That vision is the ”Open, Opportunity Society” of the Democratic Alliance. And the DA provides a better alternative than the ANC on every issue to be debated (or not) in Polokwane.
(The titles below are all borrowed from the ANC’s policy discussion documents. None of them use simple terms that ordinary people can understand, because the ANC does not want voters to make informed choices. Central to the concept of the national democratic revolution is the ”vanguard” whom the majority must trust for racial reasons.)
Economic transformation
The only way to reverse unemployment is to increase economic growth, which the DA intends to do by relaxing labour laws, simplifying regulations and making empowerment more flexible. The ANC, however, wants to increase the size of the state and its role in the economy.
Legislature and governance
The DA wants to introduce national constituencies, protect the provinces, stop floor-crossing and prevent politicians from profiting from their public offices. But the ANC resists public demands for electoral reform and an end to floor-crossing. It wants to centralise power away from the provinces, and lacks the will to close the ”revolving door” between the public and private sectors.
Transformation of the judicial system
The DA has blocked the ANC’s attempt to undermine the independence of the judiciary under the pretext of accelerated racial integration. But the ANC is persisting, over the objections of the most senior judges, with its plan to weaken the Supreme Court of Appeal, to take over administration of the courts, and to use race to appoint executive- and ANC-friendly judges.
Peace and stability
The DA stands for law enforcement, for the rights of victims of crime, for municipal police forces enforcing strong by-laws, for better training and equipment, and for urgent reform of the prosecution and corrections service. The ANC, however, remains in denial about the threat that violent crime presents to our nation.
International relations
The DA believes that South Africa must pursue human rights and democracy in world affairs. The ANC has returned South Africa to the days when our only friends were pariah states.
Revolutionary morality
The ANC’s idea of morality is truly revolutionary: corruption without consequences! Oilgate, the arms deal, Chancellor House — the ANC has abused public money to enrich itself. The DA has led the fight against abuse of power in South Africa.
Transformation of the media
The DA has defended the independence of the media from ruling party control. But the ANC has turned the SABC into its own propaganda machine. It cannot be trusted to protect media freedom.
Challenges facing workers and unions
The DA believes that the main problem faced by workers is that there are too few of them in the labour market and too many of them out of work. The ANC admits changes are needed, and has even adopted some of the DA’s policies, but lacks the courage to confront the unions.
The working class and organised labour
To encourage employment, the DA has proposed tax breaks for households and small businesses. To improve skills, we have developed effective education policies. The ANC knows our ideas are good, but rejects them, even in the face of evidence that they will work, for fear of the political cost.
Social transformation
The ANC’s greatest failures have been on social issues such as health care, land reform and youth development. For years, it stuck to a policy of denial on HIV/Aids, and has damaged the capacity of the state to deliver basic services.
As DA leader Tony Leon has often pointed out, the ANC believes in greater power for the state, while the DA believes in greater potential for individuals. That does not mean we believe the state does not have a role to play. The state can and should intervene to prevent extreme poverty, to protect everyone from crime and abuse, to give South Africans meaningful access to health care and quality education.
The problem is that the state is not intervening effectively where it should, and intervenes badly where it should not. The state lacks the capacity to achieve some of its more ambitious goals. And when the state starts deciding who can and who cannot own property, who can and who cannot be employed or manage a business, then it damages the ability of our economy to grow.
The Austrian liberal economist Friedrich Hayek pointed out that governments that try to use their power to correct inequalities will invariably create new and worse inequalities while undermining the rule of law. It is far better, he said, for states to provide a basic minimum of services and opportunities, and to focus on what governments do best: investing in infrastructure and strengthening the rule of law.
That is what the DA believes, too. We know the political challenge is great. A decade ago, the great task was to convince South Africa’s racial minorities that the long-term rewards of delivery were greater than the short-term benefits of power.
Today, we have to convince the racial majority that the long-term rewards of economic growth are greater than the short-term benefits of racial policies.
We have succeeded in Cape Town by creating a multiparty government that has brought stability and accountability to the city for the first time in years. We have rooted out corruption, improved city services and increased black procurement while removing racial quotas. We want to expand our model to the nation. That will take leadership. And that is what the DA intends to provide.
Helen Zille is mayor of Cape Town