South Africa is an interesting country, a young democracy of almost 15 years. It moved from being a pariah of nations to a beacon of hope, an institution of democracy with a very liberal constitution with a bill of rights. My opinion is that that is where problems start for this young democracy, because whilst ‘rights’ became entrenched in the constitution, reciprocal ‘responsibilities’ were not, leaving these to fate.

People feel that for instance, criminals have more rights than law-abiding citizens. Children, have been given more ‘rights’ in the constitution than parents, such that it is difficult to discipline your child without falling foul of the law.

The ‘freedom of speech and expression’ has left a media that is unrestrained, tabloid in nature and killed genuine investigative journalism. There are many examples. Laws relating to self-defence and protection of property are all very unsatisfactory to the citizenry. While you may have a licensed firearm, you cannot use it to shoot a burglar running away with your goods under arm, as the law says he is not a threat to your life. Corporal punishment was abolished at schools and at home, such that teachers and parents feel helpless against rogue kids.

A large section of the population feels that the abolition of death sentence was wrong, as was the legalisation of gay marriages and termination of pregnancy laws that allow even young girls of 12 years to legally have an abortion without parental permission. All these make some people feel that South Africa has gone down on morals and family values. But all these are constitutional imperatives protected under human rights, and there are institutions which act as watch dogs like the Human Rights Commission.

THE POLITICAL CLIMATE

The general elections on 22 April are a huge test of character for this democracy. The dominant ruling ANC (African National Congress) has had problems internally which led to a split after the former president Thabo Mbeki was ‘recalled’ within 6 months of his last tenure of office, leading to the creation of a splinter political party called COPE, the Congress of the People. Even this name was a subject of contest with the ruling party, but the courts allowed it to stand. The media and opposition parties have been hoping for this split for a long time.

This COPE splinter group initially relied on the organisational infrastructure of the ruling party, which quickly dried up as leaders had to resign immediately from ANC. Now, in the meantime, the ANC president Jacob Zuma has had long-standing legal problems, under corruption, money-laundering, fraud and tax evasion charges etc. This has been a boon for the opposition parties, including the newly formed Cope Party, to campaign under the ‘morality’ and corruption-free banner. The latter went to the extent of co-opting a Methodist bishop (Mvume Dandala) as their presidential candidate, leaving the founder president Patrick Lekota as its president outside Parliament should they win the elections.

Zuma benefited from a bungle in the investigations and processes of gathering information by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which had been disbanded in favour of a more integrated police force, and was under new management. But opposition parties feel that the ruling party did this to stop their president Zuma's legal problems.

It is now history that subsequently, the acting NPA head, after learning of recorded tapes conversations between former head of investigating prosecutor and former head of the NPA, decided to drop the charges. In my opinion again, this move deprived the opposition parties of their battle cry on corruption and what to say to the electorate. Then the main opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA) came up with a ‘Stop Zuma Campaign’, which has failed to ignite any imagination except to attract negative reaction of ‘racism’ against them. So, what are the opposition left with now to counter ANC strength in the polls? Nothing.

The DA is essentially seen as the white minority party interest that does not cater for the majority, poor black masses. It is the opposite of the ANC, with its legacy of struggle heroes and liberators, with a trump card in Nelson Mandela. Now, opposition parties and media tried to make false claims about Mandela being ‘bullied’ by the ruling ANC, when he in his frail frame, attended an election campaign rally in the Eastern Cape. They claimed, falsely, that he was uprooted without his permission and medical team.

Just this Sunday 19 April, in the final victory rally, in which the ANC in a show of force and strength filled to capacity two adjacent stadiums – Ellis Park and Johannesburg stadium – Mandela again appeared in person, though his message, which was beamed throughout the country, was pre-recorded. The opposition parties must have shivered seeing so many people openly rooting for the ANC, just two days ahead of the elections. My take is that the DA, COPE and all the other hopeful opposition parties have to look to other elections, not this one in two days time. Jacob Zuma will be president of the Republic of South Africa from 23 April 2009, when the results are announced.

* Alfred Mafuleka is an educator in Cosatu’s education department
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.