Eusebius McKaiser hosted well-known human rights and social justice activist Mark Heywood on his TimesLIVE podcast. They were in conversation about how new political players, especially those who will be contesting the 2024 general elections, could maximise their chances of making a real and positive democratic difference.
Listen to the conversation:
Heywood and McKaiser started off by sketching their takes on the state of South Africa's democracy. Both focused on data that revealed various social crises which rob most South Africans of living meaningful lives. Given their overlapping consensus, McKaiser moved on to teasing out three critical themes from Heywood about the possibility that civil society could disrupt the party system by contesting political power, which the likes of Rise Mzansi is intending to do, as well as individuals such as well-known activist Zackie Achmat.
The bulk of the episode focuses on Heywood explaining three broad themes: a) the importance of actively and immediately helping communities in practical ways to demonstrate what you could do, at scale, if voted into power; b) the importance of articulating five clear, radical, feasible and well-thought through ideas that you campaign on; and c) the importance of co-operating as new political vehicles (rather than each working alone) to contest and disrupt hegemonic political power most effectively.
McKaiser and Heywood ended their conversation by briefly reflecting on a) how new political entrants might deal with donors who are reluctant to fund them; b) avoiding political ideology and terminology that are overused and woolly; and c) learning the art of clear, explanatory and persuasive political communication.
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