Happy Election Day

Happy Election 2009! Tomorrow South Africans will be going to the polls to vote in their fourth democratic elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. For my Thinking in the Social Sciences class, I was required to write a paper arguing which political party I would vote for. Here is a copy of the paper for anyone who wants to learn a bit more about South African politics. Whenever it seems like I go off on tangents about identity and patriarchialism and symbolism it's just because the class required it...I didn't mean any of it (especially the part about wanting to vote for Helen Zille because she's a woman - the professor is just a raging feminist). 

The Case for COPE: A Critical Analysis of the 2009 Election Parites

As an exchange student from the US, it has been fascinating for me to observe the election season unfold here in South Africa. I have been impressed by the free and open democratic dialogue – including lively debates surrounding Zuma’s indictment and the government’s decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa. After carefully researching the many parties and candidates running in the upcoming election, I would argue that voting for COPE makes the most sense in terms of South Africa’s current political landscape. Using concepts including patriarchialism, race, and political identity, I will examine the advantages and disadvantages that accompany a vote for the ANC, DA, or one of the smaller minority parties. Ultimately, I conclude that COPE offers the best chance for South Africa to move forward in a constructive manner.

According to the South African Elections Statistics Centre, the four most visible parties in terms of media coverage are overwhelmingly the ANC (at 55%), COPE (22%), DA (13%) and IFP (6%). From a pragmatic standpoint, I would not want to waste my vote on some tiny opposition party that is ill-equipped to make any real policy impact, so I focused my research on these four parties. A quick scan of general reference sources identified the IFP as a rather unorganized Zulu dominated party formed in response to the ANC. A few years ago, MP Gavin Woods, a well-respected IFP member, claimed the party had no discernible vision or mission, no clear national ambitions or direction, and no articulated ideology offering current, vibrant policies (Jan-Jan Joubert 2005). The 2009 IFP manifesto confirmed this sentiment: while the party has sweeping political goals, it doesn’t give evidence of specific programs or policies. While I respect the opposition role the IFP has assumed, I quickly turned my attention to the three most serious players in the upcoming election: the ANC, DA, and COPE.

For a liberal Westerner like me, voting for the ANC and Zuma would not be an option. The rape charges, the allegations of racketeering and corruption, the dirty arms dealing, the polygamy – I have been raised in a political climate where any one of these things would make a candidate ineligible for office. I understand why many poor black South Africans feel compelled to vote for the ANC. This party is supposed to represent their interests. ANC politicians share their same roots, and the ANC was obviously instrumental in fighting against oppression and apartheid. For many black South Africans, their racial identity is inextricably linked with their political identity as ANC members. They feel that not voting for the ANC would be tantamount to betraying their identity as proud black South Africans.

However, in her insightful article Will South Africa's poor always back ANC?, Rebecca Harrison points out that the most loyal ANC voters are, ironically, the ones who have been let down most bitterly by the party. Harrison quotes COPE’s presidential candidate Mvume Dandala, who explains, “It’s like an abused wife – you get beaten every day but you keep going back to this man. And deep in your mind there’s something that says, were it not for this man I would probably never have been married.” In this way, the hold that the ANC has over the poor black majority is similar to the way that so many oppressed females still buy into systems of patriarchialism. Women are socialized to accept this world of male domination, and everywhere symbols and traditions entrench this system as seemingly natural and beneficial for women. Similarly, the ANC uses symbolism to remind South Africa’s poor black that the party understands them. Zuma kicks his legs and dances in the traditional tribal manner at party rallies, singing the freedom-fighter anthem “Bring Me My Machine Gun.” Even though service delivery has progressed at an unacceptably slow pace over the past decade, many blacks cannot tear themselves away from the ANC, because they could not bring themselves to leave this party that they know and understand.

So although an ANC victory and Zuma presidency seem inevitable, the big question for this election will be whether COPE and the DA can draw enough votes to overcome a two-thirds ANC majority. This would be a particularly important step for South Africa, as vibrant political opposition is the best mechanism to ensure adequate service delivery and transparency on behalf of the majority government. In looking at the DA platform, I have to say I was definitely influenced a bit irrationally by the fact that Helen Zille is a woman. It’s tempting for me, as a woman, to suppose that placing a strong female in power might be the answer to many of South Africa’s problems. Additionally, I was impressed by the clear policy goals laid out by the DA on the party website – for example, the DA’s Preparing for Success educational program lays out specific goals such as “introducing a per-child pre-school state subsidy,” and “ensuring that, within five years, South Africa has access to an additional 30 000 teachers a year.”

However, the DA will never pose a serious threat to the ANC as long as it is perceived as an elitist white party. I have several well-educated black friends at UCT who absolutely hate the DA and would never vote for it because they see it as representing white interests and perpetuating racism. As a result, the DA stands no chance of bridging the country’s racial gap. In fact, DA Youth Coordinator Siyabonga Nala recently left the DA and joined the ANC, claiming he sees “no hope for black people in the DA.” Regardless of whether the DA has good ideas for South Africa, I wouldn’t want to vote for a party that simply doesn’t resonate with almost 90% of the population. I believe the ANC has the potential to regain the legitimacy and standing it enjoyed in the Mandela days, but it needs enough political pressure placed on it that it is compelled to radically change course as a party, weeding out corruption and actually delivering on promises. The DA will never be able to draw enough black votes to fulfill this role.

However, COPE does have the potential to serve as this opposition party, forcing the ANC to get its act together. COPE’s policies and approach to politics may not be very different from the ANC’s, but that could actually be a good thing. In breaking away from the ANC, COPE altered its identity in a way that is still recognizable to many black South Africans. This identity shift was not a drastic conversion; rather, it was an alteration, a type of common social identity change that remains consistent within a generally understood framework. Because of this, black South Africans could theoretically imagine themselves voting for COPE while retaining their racial-political roots. In his new book Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa From Mandela to Zuma, Alec Russell explains that a lack of political competition to the ANC has resulted in the party’s recent stagnation. According to Russell, the ANC "is fighting to escape the shadow of so many other liberation movements that came to office with great dreams only to see them founder under the weight of unfulfillable expectations and against the backdrop of corruption, infighting, and misrule” (2009, 2). Russell’s prescription to this problem is the introduction of serious political opposition that will compel the ANC to get back on track.

Ultimately, my conclusion that a vote for COPE is the best option is based more on a structural analysis than on specific policy concerns. South Africa’s current democracy lacks any serious political opposition, which will allow the ANC to continue indefinitely in its current misguided direction. The DA will never appeal to the wider South African population, but COPE has the potential to do so. Once legitimate opposition is introduced to South African politics, it won’t matter what party is actually in power: that party will be forced to be more accountable for its actions, and voters will have a real alternative if the ruling party fails to deliver. While I don’t expect COPE to win the upcoming election, it would be great if it could at least make a dent in the ANC two-third parliamentary majority.