A stew of political killings, conspiracy and blackmail

Sunday Times Editorial: In a democracy as young as ours, one would hope that parliament and the national political discourse would be a carnival of ideas about how to make our world the best place it could be. Instead, we seem to be spiralling into a dark world of name-calling, conspiracy and even political killing.

Parties argue less about policy than they compete for patronage. Internally, party leaders committed to personal advancement rather than national development squabble over the best seats on the gravy train.

Zwelinzima Vavi, the veteran labour leader who has tried to launch a crusade against corruption, has lately raised an alarm about attempts to intimidate him with dead animals left at his door, threats to his welfare and warnings of imminent assassination. Now, as we report this week, he is the victim of blackmail - which may be politically motivated - over an inappropriate relationship that should be a matter for himself and his family to resolve.

Conspiracy rather than performance has become the currency of political success. Julius Malema analysed his own fall from grace in terms of the only politics he knew and declared himself a victim of conspiracy rather than hubris.

When opposition parties and politicians criticise the party in power, the ANC's first defence usually is to allege a conspiracy to harm it. There is seldom, if ever, a moment of introspection about a possible failure.

Parliamentary debate has lost its analytical edge, wit has deserted the chamber and name-calling is the lingua franca. Poor attendance and the frequent postponement of votes underline the contempt with which representatives treat the institution.

"Regrettably, there clearly is a need to clamp down on unbecoming conduct in the chamber," Max Sisulu, the speaker in the National Assembly, lamented last month.

In the Western Cape legislature this week, the DA and ANC traded charges of gangsterism, with each accusing the other's leaders of active association with drug dealers and thugs. We know from former police commissioner Jackie Selebi's downfall that this is not an unthinkable charge. Surely, though, it cannot be the norm.

But it is political assassination, the ultimate unparliamentary argument, that most seriously threatens our future. At least 56 people have been murdered since 2000 in what appear to be political killings. Some had sought to expose corruption; others were rivals for access to tenders or positions that would offer access to lucrative contracts.

If murder, blackmail, conspiracy and name-calling are to be the currency of our politics, we are doomed as a state and as a society.