Rising Tide
A weekly e-mail letter by Jack Bloom, DA Leader in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
7 April 2008
When Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe attended the second inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki in April 2004 he got cheers and a standing ovation.
This explains why Mbeki has coddled Mugabe for so long, as there is a strong domestic constituency for him, especially amongst key ANC decision-makers.
It can barely be called a foreign policy issue as it has such a high local impact with the many Zimbabwe immigrants who have fled the economic disaster in their home country.
The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) has recently queried the oft-cited figure of 3 million Zimbabweans in South Africa, contending that it is more likely between 800 000 and 1 million.
This is still very sizeable, a large proportion of which is in Gauteng. Many live in Johannesburg’s inner city, and I have often received Zimbabweans in my legislature office asking for assistance.
Most claimed to be linked to the MDC opposition and told very sad stories. One activist spoke of torture that left him unable to have children. He wanted to go the armed struggle route, and it struck me that ANC exiles must have told similar stories and made similar appeals, but are now deaf to the Zimbabwean plight.
All my visitors detested Mbeki for collaborating with Mugabe. Much has been said about the “docility” of Zimbabweans in not fighting against an oppressive regime, but I think this underestimates how demoralizing Mbeki’s perceived support for Mugabe has been for them. Black South Africans, after all, were emboldened by support from the rest of Africa and by overseas campaigns on their behalf.
As recently as March last year, Mugabe received the biggest cheer at Ghana’s celebration of 50 years of independence.
It is quite striking to note how Zanu-PF uses many of the same arguments that the ANC uses here to justify their rule despite corruption and incompetence. For instance, the DA is constantly lectured that we only sit in parliament and other elected bodies because the ANC liberated the country.
The ANC shares with Mugabe the belief that a liberation movement has the legitimacy to rule in perpetuity, as in Jacob Zuma’s comment that the ANC will rule “until Jesus comes back”.
ANC members are probably envious that Mugabe has done many of the things they would like to do, such as mass expropriations of farms, but are restrained by the constitution and by economic reality.
There are other similarities, such as the blurring of party and state, and benefits conferred on the politically connected in the name of transformation.
John Kane-Berman of the SA Institute of Race Relations has warned of moves by the post-Polokwane ANC to subvert our constitution by centralising decisions in a Soviet-style politburo comprised of its 87-member National Executive Committee that will treat parliament as a rubber-stamp.
There are fortunately countervailing factors in South Africa, including independent-minded people in the ANC and a strong civil society.
We are also learning important lessons from Zimbabwe about the disastrous consequences of entrenched one-party rule, populist price controls and reckless printing of money. Would Mugabe still be cheered if he visited an event in South Africa?
I suspect that the ANC has propped up Mugabe because it fears that people here will learn something from the sight of a liberation movement being toppled.
The psychological effect could be huge as voters realize that they can punish the ANC for fiascos like the Eskom power failure by voting for another party.
This would be a crucial development in our democracy, transforming our largely identity-based politics into a real contest where policies and performance matter.
7 April 2008
When Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe attended the second inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki in April 2004 he got cheers and a standing ovation.
This explains why Mbeki has coddled Mugabe for so long, as there is a strong domestic constituency for him, especially amongst key ANC decision-makers.
It can barely be called a foreign policy issue as it has such a high local impact with the many Zimbabwe immigrants who have fled the economic disaster in their home country.
The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) has recently queried the oft-cited figure of 3 million Zimbabweans in South Africa, contending that it is more likely between 800 000 and 1 million.
This is still very sizeable, a large proportion of which is in Gauteng. Many live in Johannesburg’s inner city, and I have often received Zimbabweans in my legislature office asking for assistance.
Most claimed to be linked to the MDC opposition and told very sad stories. One activist spoke of torture that left him unable to have children. He wanted to go the armed struggle route, and it struck me that ANC exiles must have told similar stories and made similar appeals, but are now deaf to the Zimbabwean plight.
All my visitors detested Mbeki for collaborating with Mugabe. Much has been said about the “docility” of Zimbabweans in not fighting against an oppressive regime, but I think this underestimates how demoralizing Mbeki’s perceived support for Mugabe has been for them. Black South Africans, after all, were emboldened by support from the rest of Africa and by overseas campaigns on their behalf.
As recently as March last year, Mugabe received the biggest cheer at Ghana’s celebration of 50 years of independence.
It is quite striking to note how Zanu-PF uses many of the same arguments that the ANC uses here to justify their rule despite corruption and incompetence. For instance, the DA is constantly lectured that we only sit in parliament and other elected bodies because the ANC liberated the country.
The ANC shares with Mugabe the belief that a liberation movement has the legitimacy to rule in perpetuity, as in Jacob Zuma’s comment that the ANC will rule “until Jesus comes back”.
ANC members are probably envious that Mugabe has done many of the things they would like to do, such as mass expropriations of farms, but are restrained by the constitution and by economic reality.
There are other similarities, such as the blurring of party and state, and benefits conferred on the politically connected in the name of transformation.
John Kane-Berman of the SA Institute of Race Relations has warned of moves by the post-Polokwane ANC to subvert our constitution by centralising decisions in a Soviet-style politburo comprised of its 87-member National Executive Committee that will treat parliament as a rubber-stamp.
There are fortunately countervailing factors in South Africa, including independent-minded people in the ANC and a strong civil society.
We are also learning important lessons from Zimbabwe about the disastrous consequences of entrenched one-party rule, populist price controls and reckless printing of money. Would Mugabe still be cheered if he visited an event in South Africa?
I suspect that the ANC has propped up Mugabe because it fears that people here will learn something from the sight of a liberation movement being toppled.
The psychological effect could be huge as voters realize that they can punish the ANC for fiascos like the Eskom power failure by voting for another party.
This would be a crucial development in our democracy, transforming our largely identity-based politics into a real contest where policies and performance matter.
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