Outside the ballot box

The Big Read: An improverished conception of democracy has prevailed in our country. One which Amartya Sen lucidly describes in his book, The Idea of Justice, as taking a narrow view of democracy by "focusing particularly on the procedure of balloting and elections" and not going beyond this.

In this regard, we South Africans have too much faith in our party-based democracy. Unfortunately, our reliance on the party-led system of political representation is insufficient for building a strong and lively democratic culture.

Party-political systems are useful, but not the sole preserve of democracy. Political parties can and often are drawn into the vortex of power. Their fine morals can go awry, as the rules of the political game swallow them, so to speak. Witness the current debacle in Britain, with a hung parliament and three party-political configurations that indicate an indecisiveness, which surely bodes ill for the UK's future.

In our case, the political landscape exposes parties as rather insufficient in countering the abuse of state power, mismanagement and misappropriation of state resources.

Any hopes pinned on the rising star, Congress of the People and other opposition parties look decisively bleak and are bound to produce disappointment. Cope is in disarray. Increasingly, it would appear that the party is coming apart.

On the other hand, the idea of the Democratic Alliance holding a progressive front, given its obsession with market-based solutions, is not to be relied upon either.

Other political parties have such small numbers that their claim to staging any serious opposition must be taken with a pinch of salt. They know this, too, and the mooted merger between the smaller parties and the DA will likely be smothered by the demands of the larger player, with its greater financial clout.

The reality is that certain civic organisations such as the trade unions and religious organisations have more presence - in terms of numbers - than these political parties. The fact that they don't exercise their influence is another matter. But civic organisations can become crucial brokers of votes as well as enhance accountability measures.

This point was oft repeated in the Dinokeng Scenarios, the projections of potential futures for South Africa. Indeed, the scenarios point to a need for strong civic organisations representing different constituencies, if South Africa is to have a robust democracy.

The problem is that civic organisations are either too far apart from one other, too quiet, or simply in an incestuous relationship with power.

Civic organisations find it hard to be independent and engaging. But they do have power. It's just a question of their finding ways to use it properly.

In this regard, Pippa Green's biographical tome on Trevor Manuel, Choice, Not Fate: The Life and Times of Trevor Manuel, is instructive. It seeks to place Manuel in his historical context and demonstrates that the social milieu is as much a creator of the person as the person is of him or herself.

Thus, as much as people lead organisations, organisations also produce good leaders. Manuel's rise as a politician as well as his savvy skills were driven by the vibrant presence of civic organisations in the Western Cape.

Green's depiction of the era - of the intensity, vigour and vibrancy of the trade unions, housing committees, church groups and organisations like the United Democratic Front - reminds us that apartheid was never going to survive the networks of civic institutions fostering resistance.

In this regard, the book also reminds us that civic organisations were not rich with resources. What they had was "will" and a rootedness in communities.

They challenged the hegemony of the state, forcing it to abandon any hope of winning the hearts and minds of a growing populace resisting apartheid, and alienated by the militarisation under PW Botha.

Most importantly the book points out that domestic resistance was key to the unsettling and demise of the apartheid system. Widespread civil disobedience, in various forms, unnerved the calm and sense of security which falsely assumed that white rule could last forever.

Sadly, the demobilisation of the UDF and many civic structures after liberation has created a vacuum and increased passivity within the populace. This has contributed to the swaggering domination of an African National Congress often out of touch with the views and needs of its people.

We need to rebuild the culture of civic organisation in South Africa. Broader countervailing forces with deep civic roots are critical for activating civic political presence and crucial as a way to hold party-political mechanisms accountable.

Even if not explicit, strong labour unions have demonstrated that they can broker votes. Though seemingly apolitical church groups don't only preach God's word, but also appear to have great sway in how followers vote - their presence brokers both the earthly and the Godly. Jacob Zuma knew this when he visited the Rhema Bible Church congregation last year in the run up to being elected president.

John Rawls, who wrote the seminal work Theory of Justice reminds us that the true substance of democracy is not the idea of "public balloting" but the fostering of a healthy and lively "public reasoning".

We, too, must be cautious that a deeper civic participation in our democracy should not only be about brokering votes, but about challenging prevailing orthodoxies and placing alternative ideas on the table.

Perhaps, more importantly, if we focus on rebuilding civic organisations, a new cadre of intelligent, skilled and responsive leaders might emerge.

They would make a welcome alternative to the current "young lions" groomed and cocooned by our party political system, and whose leadership qualities remain something to be desired. - ©Sacsis

ýFakir is an independent writer based in Cape Town