Category Archives: Newspaper editorial

Business Day: Forcing changes from within

Leave a reply

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=125822

Forcing changes from within

COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi is wrong to label the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) furious response to his move to cement relations with civil society groups as “paranoid”.

Published: 2010/11/04 07:30:49 AM

COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi is wrong to label the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) furious response to his move to cement relations with civil society groups as “paranoid”.

Paranoia is an irrational fear of a threat that does not exist, whereas the prospect of SA’s main federation of trade unions — the biggest and best-organised grouping in civil society — cosying up to a range of nongovernmental organisations that focus on the parts of society worst affected by the government’s service delivery failures is potentially a very real threat to the ruling party.

That said, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe’s talk of a move to form a new political party in opposition to the ANC with a view to attempting to effect “regime change” is way over the top. There is no doubt that Cosatu is repositioning itself within the tripartite alliance with the aim of keeping its options open, a wise move given the signs of spreading discontent over ANC corruption and misgovernance.

But the union umbrella has no intention of breaking with the ANC while they believe they still have a shot at gaining dominance over it within the alliance. There are too many advantages to being part of the establishment to go into political opposition and force their members to choose between the organisation they believe best represents their interests, and the party many still see as their liberator from oppression.

Cosatu triumphed over its nationalist-inclined foes during the ANC’s recent national general council, and within days one of its strongest affiliates, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), was vowing that the left wing of the alliance would “come in numbers” to take control of the party at its 2012 elective conference. Less than a month later, former Sadtu general secretary Thulas Nxesi has been appointed deputy minister of rural development and land reform.

Mr Vavi was threatened with disciplinary action for criticising the ANC’s failure to investigate allegations of corruption against then communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, yet a couple of months later it is Gen Nyanda who is out of a job. With the obvious exception of economic policy, Cosatu’s muscle-flexing is getting results, unlike the ANC rebels who were left with little option but to form the Congress of the People. It’s no secret how that worked out.

Cosatu’s bid to find common ground with other organs of civil society is doubly shrewd given that its claim to represent the poor has always had a hollow ring. Organisations like the Treatment Action Campaign, the Landless People’s Movement and Abahlali baseMjondolo, representing shack dwellers, have often found themselves pitted against the ANC, and by extension its alliance partners. Cosatu is clearly looking to change that by focusing on issues where they have similar concerns, most of which concern failures in service delivery, and steering well away from those where their interests diverge, such as job creation.

The ANC’s failure to deliver on its promises, and concern over its respect for the constitution and independent institutions, has served to revive civil society. The recent formation of the nonpartisan Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution included prominent members of the ANC, and Cosatu has supported rights-based pressure groups such as Section 27, Equal Education and the Save our SABC coalition.

This points to an organisation that is genuinely concerned about improving service delivery and upholding people’s rights, not one that is hellbent on becoming SA’s version of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change, as claimed by Mr Mantashe. But that could be a handy Plan B.

Business day: Voices of poor must be heard

The Hangberg community is politically divided and has not taken a collective decision to join the PPA or any other organisation.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=124776

Voices of poor must be heard

THE increase in township service delivery protests across SA, and their tendency to descend into chaos and violence, has generally been interpreted as a wake-up call for the tripartite alliance

THE increase in township service delivery protests across SA, and their tendency to descend into chaos and violence, has generally been interpreted as a wake-up call for the tripartite alliance, which dominates government in most parts of the country.

Yet there is little evidence that rising unhappiness among the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) natural constituency is translating into electoral losses on any meaningful scale. Where the ANC has lost ground in local government by-elections, this has largely been a result of the consolidation of opposition support and low African voter turnouts, rather than a mass defection of traditional ANC supporters.

While it is clear that the swing vote among Cape Town’s coloured population lost faith in the ANC following the disastrous mayoral tenure of Nomaindia Mfeketo and removal of Ebrahim Rasool as premier, this was never an established ANC constituency. Opinion polls show that although African voters’ perception of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has improved over the years — leader Helen Zille scores highly on efficiency and incorruptibility — that has not meant many new black votes for the party.

While the DA seems likely to continue making gradual progress among minority groups and the emerging black middle class, liberal hopes that widespread disenchantment following 16 years of African nationalist governance would prompt the masses to buy into the DA’s concept of the equal opportunity society have not yet been fulfilled. Rather than seek alternatives to the ANC within the multiparty system, there is a countrywide trend away from engagement with elected representatives and administrative structures and towards forming unaffiliated community-based organisations and pressure groups with little interest in elections.

The implication for the ANC is that while its control over the levers of power and patronage is not under immediate threat, it finds itself under attack on a broad new front that ranges from street protests and barricaded roads to sophisticated legal challenges undertaken on communities’ behalf by nongovernmental organisations in civil society.

Whereas the alliance partners have traditionally had an iron grip on poor African communities in urban areas, their alienation due to widespread corruption and a general lack of accountability has resulted in this control being gradually lost. The ANC’s attempt to capitalise on the recent clash between the Cape Town authorities and residents of Hout Bay’s Hangberg community was rebuffed, for instance, with residents preferring to protest, march, litigate and eventually negotiate under the banner of the Poor People’s Alliance, a coalition of independent social movements including the Landless People’s Movement, the Anti-Eviction Campaign, the Rural Network and Abahlali baseMjondolo.

The latter grouping, which represents shack-dwellers and has its origins in KwaZulu-Natal, has a history of going head-to- head with the government over service delivery issues, having clashed violently with the ANC in Durban’s Kennedy Road settlement a little over a year ago after successfully challenging the constitutionality of the KwaZulu- Natal Slums Act. The ANC did not take kindly to its authority being questioned, ensuring that Kennedy Road was “liberated” from its elected representatives.

Abahlali has also been responsible for a series of protests over slow housing provision in informal settlements around the country, most recently in Cape Town. These often involve disruptive street barricades, the stoning of cars and chaotic marches, with police invariably resorting to rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.

It has become a case of neglected and deprived communities versus the establishment, regardless of which party is in office, and politicians across the board seem at a loss as to how to respond, other than with force.

Having been rebuffed by the Hangberg community after it tried to hijack a protest march organised in the wake of a violent clash with police and council officials intent on breaking down structures built illegally in a firebreak, the ANC and its allies are now on the warpath against Abahlali in Cape Town too. Union federation Cosatu released a statement earlier this month condemning its methods and calling on “progressive” residents to “distance themselves from mindless violence and calls for chaos that harm the poor and working class and their organisations”.

The DA cannot afford to indulge in schadenfreude though. As much as the growth of organisations such as Abahlali is putting the ANC on the spot, the phenomenon is a clear indication that our democracy is not working for everyone, and this is bad news for all South Africans. The political establishment as a whole needs to engage with alienated poor communities and find some way of ensuring their voices are heard, including reviewing the electoral system to make elected representatives more accountable.

The growth of groups such as Abahlali baseMjondolo is a clear indication that our democracy is not working for everyone

Mail & Guardian Editorial: Red Alert

Leave a reply

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=313154&area=/insight/insight__editorials/

Red alert

06 July 2007 07:18
If the wealth-gap is the most dangerous fault line in South African society, then service delivery protests are a seismograph charting the anger of desperate people whose government is failing them.

However you count the protests, the indicators are now in the red.

This week angry residents at Deneysville in the Free State killed an ANC councillor, an indication that the protests are increasing not only in number, but also in violence.

ANC leaders blamed the opposition United Democratic Movement for stoking resentment, but that was possible only because the fuel of bitterness and frustration was running so deep.

Deneysville performs better than many of its provincial counterparts on a range of indicators, but 40% of its residents live below the poverty line and they feel the brutal winter weather acutely.

It is not as if money isn’t available to improve their situation. On the contrary, the national treasury has doubled its budgetary allocation to local government from R64-billion in 2001 to R119-billion this financial year.

There is no lack of technocratic solutions either.

Legislators have developed state-of-the-art municipal finance legislation, the treasury releases finely detailed delivery indicators that municipalities and the provincial and local government department can use to track progress, troubleshoot and maintain accountability. Project Consolidate sends teams of bright-eyed managers from central government to help bail out delinquent municipalities.

The proposed creation of a “single public service” is the latest such measure, aimed in large part at helping central government to take direct control of provincial and local public servants.

Despite all these efforts, however, local governments are set to underspend on their capital budgets by as much as a third this financial year.

What is lacking is not just “capacity”, that hollow catch-all word for failure, but commitment and political will.

So it is hardly surprising that the country’s poorest, those worst affected by this municipal malaise, are turning against the councillors they have elected to deliver a better life.

But it is surprising — or at least disappointing — that technocratic talk is so disconnected from political action.

At the ruling party’s policy conference last week delegates barely discussed local government, let alone the embedded culture of corruption.

This week Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi passed the buck to municipalities, saying he “could only do so much”.

That is simply not good enough. It is time for political leadership to lead and to enforce accountability at every level.

An excuse for inaction
No one can sensibly quarrel with the South African Police Service’s assertion that most violent crime in the country is linked to poverty, joblessness, overcrowding, rapid urbanisation and the alcohol and drug abuse that go with these.

That is a matter of worldwide experience. In the United Kingdom, for example, the annual tally of murders has not exceeded 100 since 1980; in the poverty-stricken 1830s there were thought to be about 35 000 homicides a year in England alone.

The implication, of course, is that government departments concerned with welfare, housing, land distribution and job creation must come to the party.

But where the SAPS goes wrong is in suggesting that its hands are tied by “social fabric” crimes, which simply cannot be policed.

What that suggests is that the mass of South Africans who live in townships and shack settlements, where criminal violence is concentrated, should not expect to enjoy their constitutional right to security.

As the wealthy suburbs rely largely on private security companies for their protection, who exactly does the SAPS exist to serve?

Huddled shack settlements might be hard to penetrate and much violent crime might take place within the home, but murder is murder and rape is rape. Friends and relatives are the perpetrators often and women and children often the victims. But these are aggravating circumstances, not an excuse to sit on one’s hands.

The job of the police is deterrence, by ensuring that violent offenders have a reasonable expectation of being arrested and jailed. Figures for arrest rates and the proportion of cases that come to court, released by the police this week, provide some cheer. Last year 53% of “contact” criminals were detected and 38% of cases were brought to court, up from 48% and 28% respectively in 2002/2003.

But nothing was said of the conviction rate, which partly reflects the quality of the cases built by police and is significantly lower. If even a quarter of the criminals who are arrested go to jail, three-quarters escape scot-free.

Shoddy police groundwork and the corrupt disappearance of dockets are well-known problems that can be fixed. But another is a certain lack of investigative will. Children’s and women’s rights activists regularly complain that many police officers remain reluctant to interfere in violence in the home.