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Let’s protect our democracy and not betray our patriotism

South Africa democracy was fought with the lives and blood of our African mothers and fathers. When Nelson Mandela was released our parents had a dream that their lives would be transformed into dignified livelihoods as black people.

When the ANC won political power, it shared the governing with (Inkatha-Freedom Party) IFP and National Party (NP) under the Government of National Unity. In 1996 April President Nelson Mandela signed for a new constitution that stipulates equally rights and freedom for all despite the colour of our skin.

The constitution sought to protect our democracy and legitimacy of our government. The ANC rolled out policies which were conceived to elevate the poverty and contract the gap between the rich and the poor. Such as Redistribute Development Programme (RDP) and Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) which seek to improve skills and integrate South Africa’s economy with global economy. ,

South Africa’s democracy born at the time the third wave of democracy was expressing itself in Eastern Europe. And at the time the new forces of democracy favouring democratisation were getting strong, after the years of Cold War who could have foreseen that Mikhail Gorbachev would facilitate democratisation in Eastern Europe. And succumb to the capitalists Western and this culminated into many countries granted democracy such as South Africa in 1990.

The acknowledgement of RDP was centred on economic growth and redistribution of wealth. This policy introduced the Keynesian strategy of state intervention into our economic system.

The world was transforming in the 1990s, the fall of Berlin Wall in German and the establishment of democracy in South Africa and Russia. But that does not dismiss that other countries at the time were reverting to authoritarian regimes such as Sudan and Nigeria.

Democracy is an important mechanism which suppresses the wars and conflict of the state. And other democracies do not depend on the electoral system to gain legitimacy but depends on incumbent performance.

Recently President of our country Zuma has been caught in midst of quagmire, where South Africans are mobilised and organised themselves to show their dissatisfaction with the performance of Zuma’s administration. The recent downgrade of our country to Junk-status by two rating agencies S&P and Fitch due to our political turmoil.

The reality is that the downgrade happened due the reshuffling of the minister and deputy minister of finance without cogent reasons from the president.

Knowing that our democracy has only 23 years as democracy, this shows that it yet ripens to the core. But this must not undermine the effort of people protesting for the removal of president Zuma.

 I do not think our democracy can be strong and elevate the poverty of the poor people without economic performance. Because poverty is one of the obstacles to democratic development and obstacle to the economic development will culminate into the obstacles to expansion of democracy. This was witnessed in the Middle East and North Africa in 1990s.

Let’s be frank, our democracy has now transformed into corruption scheme. Our system of democracy is being used as the mechanism of patronage which benefits President Zuma and his friends, particularly the Gupta family. This places our democracy in endangerment because it does not serve the purpose of freedom, equality and prosperous South Africa. And this poses a question, why people must vote when our democracy serve only families connected to the president.

I am exultant by the fact that South Africans are starting to organise themselves and political opposition parties to protect our democracy.

This is not about dichotomous of white monopoly capital and Gupta family. But the call for the removal of President Zuma is the call which seeks to protect our democracy from Gupta family and President Zuma.

By Ashley Nyiko Mabasa

YCLSA Coordinator Wits

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