By: Keith Gottschalk, Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
Former South African President Jacob Zuma. Never again should one man wield so much power.
GCIS
South Africa’s greatest Valentine’s Day gift was the resignation of President Jacob Zuma less than 24 hours before his own party, the African National Congress (ANC), was scheduled to debate a no-confidence motion on him in parliament.
The ANC’s election of Zuma as deputy president of the party, then as President of South Africa, gave South Africa the tragedy of a person promoted above his level of competence, and in a sphere for which he was unqualified.
Zuma’s presidency will go down in history as South Africa’s most corrupt leadership since Cecil Rhodes was prime minister of the Cape Colony. Under Rhodes there were outrageous scandals such as the railways catering contract, and the resignation of a Rhodes cabinet in protest against corruption. The diamond oligarch went further: under his reign the rule of law was perverted.
This time around the fourth estate did South African democracy proud. The investigative unit Amabhungane mined the “Gupta leaks” emails; an academic team compiled a report that dug deep into the Zuma administration’s capture of key state institutions; and civil society launched an ever-more vociferous push-back of litigation and demonstrations. All this was made possible by South Africa’s democratic laws that protect activists from censorship and repression.
So what did the Zuma decade mean for his party, for opposition parties, and for South Africa’s constitutional democracy? What improvements does it need to introduce to prevent a repetition?
Escalating disillusionment with corruption led to hundreds of thousands of ANC voters abstaining during the 2016 municipal elections. In a proportional representation electoral system, that had devastating consequences. The opposition parties won Cape Town and Tshwane plus the biggest city, Johannesburg, and the former ANC heartland, Nelson Mandela Bay.
So the ANC had to learn, like any other party, that it must heed its voters’ wishes, or lose at the ballot box.
Within the ANC itself, the repeated attempts by Zuma’s supporters at rigging elective conferences caused a surge of pushback. This was evident at the elective conference in December when Ramaphosa won the day. Attempts at rigging the vote through gatekeeping were deeply resented. Zuma’s faction learnt, at its cost, that it had antagonised other members.
When it came to opposition parties, each month of the Zuma presidency was the gift that kept on giving. Outrage at Zuma led to unprecedented coalition attempts between rival opposition parties. These included a partnership between the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and the much smaller United Democratic Movement as well as unprecedented tactical voting arrangements between the DA and Economic Freedom Fighters.
These parties are now learning how to negotiate broad coalitions, knowledge that will come in handy after the 2019 general election.
The DA and EFF’s call for immediate elections point to calculations that a Ramaphosa presidency will steadily start to win back voters to the ANC. A snap election would maximise their chances.
Overall, South Africa’s constitutional democracy showed its resilience against subversion and corruption. But there were some close calls.
Vital in the campaign against corruption and state capture was the freedom of the media. An attempt by sycophantic securocrats to promulgate Nkandla as a “national key point”, which would have made it a crime to publish photos of the site, simply resulted in a flood of front page photos of Zuma’s country estate. Courage from the media was key.
The continued independence of the judiciary, which granted many NGOs the standing to bring test cases, proved equally vital. South Africa’s democracy defended a freedom to oppose Zuma in ways that are unimaginable in, for example, President el-Sisi’s Egypt with its tame pro-executive judges.
Not that Zuma didn’t try and subvert the independence of key state institutions. A number of examples stand out: the abuse of his powers to hand-pick judges heading commissions of enquiry and the hiring and firing of the operational heads of the police and national prosecuting authorities.
Never again should so much power be concentrated in any future presidency. A few important steps need to be taken to avert a similar crisis in the future.
Firstly, the Judicial Service Commission, which interviews candidates for judicial posts and recommends who should be appointed judges, should have its mandate broadened to also appoint top prosecutors, the independent police investigative directorate, and the head of the independent electoral commission.
Secondly, after a disastrous four appointments as police commissioner, it will be best for future police chiefs to be appointed by the Public Service Commission, not by the president. The commission’s mandate is to monitor and to evaluate the administration of the country’s public service.
Thirdly, the Marikana massacre underscored the urgency of demilitarising the police, so that they indeed become a police service, not a police force.
Fourthly, the country’s constitution needs to be amended to ensure such institutions as the auditor-general and the independent police investigative directorate are given teeth. In future, their recommendations must result in prosecutions.
These are also issues parliament and civil society must take up. Importantly, South Africa’s media, commentators and civil society must stop looking for a great man as saviour. It is active citizenry, working together with strong institutions, that is the foundation of democracy.
In his state of the nation speech, Ramaphosa addressed the concerns of unions as well as of business. His repeated theme about jobs for the unemployed, especially unemployed young people, will be a hard act to follow. But any success will be welcome and overdue.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Written by: Natasha
Every "Hive" needs a Queen B and Bonolo "Bee Sting" Molosiwa is Kaya 959's honey who brings in the money. With her bubbly personality, infectious laugh, Bee Sting radiates positive energy which is all you need to get your weekend off to the best start. Don't miss the Afrobeat Dancehall Ragga (ADR) Top 10 on The Hive with Bee Sting every Saturday from 18h00 - 21h00.
closeTune and Chill with Tyroline Franks on Kaya 959. Weekends, Saturday and Sunday, 15pm-18pm.
closeOn the Beat with George Manyosi on Kaya 959. Saturday's, 18pm-21pm.
closeKaya 959 takes back Sundays with A Touch of Soul, the only show bringing you soul and RnB music that touches your mind, body and spirit. The Best T in the City, T-bose takes you back to a time when music was made to last. A Touch of Soul is the perfect wind-down to your weekend. Sundays 14h00 to 18h00.
close© 2024 Kaya 959 | On The Street On The Air
THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT FORMS PART OF KAYA 959’S TERMS OF USE POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ANY TERM OF THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT, YOU MUST CEASE YOUR ACCESS OF THIS WEBSITE IMMEDIATELY.
POPIA Act – To promote the protection of personal information processed by public and private bodies; to introduce certain conditions so as to establish minimum requirements for the processing of personal information; to provide for the establishment of an Information Regulator to exercise certain powers and to perform certain duties and functions in terms of this Act and the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000; to provide for the issuing of codes of conduct; to provide for the rights of persons regarding unsolicited electronic communications and automated decision making; to regulate the flow of personal information across the borders of the Republic; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
RECOGNISING THAT—
AND BEARING IN MIND THAT—
AND IN ORDER TO—
1.1.“Personal Information” means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person and where it is applicable, identifiable, existing juristic person, including all information as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
1.2 Parliament assented to POPIA on 19 November 2013. The commencement date of section 1, Part A of Chapter 5, section 112 and section 113 was 11 April 2014. The commencement date of the other sections was 1 July 2020 (with the exception of section 110 and 114(4). The President of South Africa has proclaimed the POPI commencement date to be 1 July 2020.
1.3. “Processing” means the creation, generation, communication, storage, destruction of personal information as more fully defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
1.4. “You” or the “user” means any person who accesses and browses this website for any purpose.
1.4. “Website” means the website of the KAYA 959 at URL www.kaya959.co.za or such other URL as KAYA 959 may choose from time to time.
2.1. KAYA 959 respects your privacy. This privacy policy statement sets out KAYA 959’s information gathering and dissemination practices in respect of the Website.
2.2. This Privacy Policy governs the processing of personal information provided to KAYA 959 through your use of the Website.
2.3. Please note that, due to legal and other developments, KAYA 959 may amend these terms and conditions from time to time.
3.1. By providing your personal information to KAYA 959 you acknowledge that it has been collected directly from you and consent to its processing by KAYA 959.
3.2. Where you submit Personal Information (such as name, address, telephone number and email address) via the website (e.g. through completing any online form) the following principles are observed in the processing of that information:
3.2.1. KAYA 959 will only collect personal information for a purpose consistent with the purpose for which it is required. The specific purpose for which information is
collected will be apparent from the context in which it is requested.
3.2.2. KAYA 959 will only process personal information in a manner that is adequate, relevant and not excessive in the context of the purpose for which it is processed.
3.2.3. Personal information will only be processed for a purpose compatible with that for which it was collected, unless you have agreed to an alternative purpose in writing or KAYA 959 is permitted in terms of national legislation of general application dealing primarily with the protection of personal information.
3.2.4. KAYA 959 will keep records of all personal Information collected and the specific purpose for which it was collected for a period of 1 (one) year from the date on which it was last used.
3.2.5. KAYA 959 will not disclose any personal information relating to you to any third party unless your prior written agreement is obtained or KAYA 959 is required to do so by law.
3.2.6. If personal information is released with your consent KAYA 959 will retain a record of the information released, the third party to which it was released, the reason for the release and the date of release, for a period of 1 (one) year from the date on which it was last used.
3.2.7. KAYA 959 will destroy or delete any personal information that is no longer needed by KAYA 959 for the purpose it was initially collected, or subsequently processed.
3.3. Note that, as permitted by the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002, KAYA 959 may use personal information collected to compile profiles for statistical purposes. No information contained in the profiles or statistics will be able to be linked to any specific user.
4.1. KAYA 959 may use standard technology to collect information about the use of this website. This technology is not able to identify individual users but simply allows KAYA 959 to collect statistics.
4.2. KAYA 959 may utilise temporary or session cookies to keep track of users’ browsing habits. A cookie is a small file that is placed on your hard drive in order to keep a record of your interaction with this website and facilitate user convenience.
4.2.1. Cookies by themselves will not be used to identify users personally but may be used to compile identified statistics relating to use of services offered or to provide KAYA 959 with feedback on the performance of this website.
4.2.2. The following classes of information may be collected in respect of users who have enabled cookies:
4.2.2.1. The browser software used;
4.2.2.2. IP address;
4.2.2.3. Date and time of activities while visiting the website;
4.2.2.4. URLs of internal pages visited; and
4.2.2.5. referrers.
4.3. If you do not wish cookies to be employed to customize your interaction with this website it is possible to alter the manner in which your browser handles cookies. Please note that, if this is done, certain services on this website may not be available.
5.1. KAYA 959 takes reasonable measures to ensure the security and integrity of information submitted to or collected by this website, but cannot under any circumstances be held liable for any loss or other damage sustained by you as a result of unlawful access to or dissemination of any personal information by a third party.
6.1. KAYA 959 has no control over and accepts no responsibility for the privacy practices of any third party websites to which hyperlinks may have been provided and KAYA 959 strongly recommends that you review the privacy policy of any website you visit before using it further.
7.1. If you have any queries about this privacy policy please contact us by emailing [email protected]