As Egypt's fledgling democracy unravels, the ANC would do well to ponder the long-term effects of dictatorships, one party dominant and sectarian states on the citizens of their countries. Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen are frightening examples of what governments do to their own people who challenge their authority. The ANC government is by no means comparable to middle-eastern dictatorships, but much of its performance is unconstitutional and will have negative consequences for our democracy in the long-term.
Barely a year old, President Morsi's nascent democracy failed for a number of reasons. Granted, he inherited a dictatorship, which Mubarak ruled with an iron fist for 29 years. Building a democratic state under such conditions would not be easy as Mubharak eroded all democratic values under his rule: freedom of speech and the media, freedom of religion, the rights of women, Christians, gays, and corruption was rife. Although Morsi won Egypt's democratic election in 2012, it was by a narrow margin of 51.7% versus 48.3% by his opponent.
During their elections, Morsi explicitly promised that he would put the people first; that despite heading a sectarian party, he would not enforce Islamic traditions on the nation and that he would install a democratic participatory state that would be inclusive of all. But after an intense desire for change and hope, citizen dissatisfaction escalated as Morsi became increasingly sectarian and dictatorial.
He legislated without judicial oversight and he granted himself excessive powers as a pretext for ‘protecting" the nation. This of course blew up in his face, barely, one year in power and on the 3rd July, the Egyptian Military overthrew him. Egypt is now divided between those who are pro-Morsi and those who are vehemently against.
It is a battle between those who believe that Morsi was democratically elected and should be challenged at the polls; and those who believe that he had become a dictator and should be overthrown through popular uprisings.
The bottom line is this. Ruling parties should never take the public for granted. Citizens want to experience true democratic values and practices in reality and that is the only thing that will ensure long-term peace, the rule of law, and respect for the practices of democracy. Closer to home - six months after the ANC's centenary celebrations, it is timely to reflect on the party's performance as a government of the majority.
As a democratic state, with its constitutional foundations firmly in place, South Africa faces real threats to ensuring stability. It is fair to say, after nearly 20 years in power, it is flagrantly out of touch with the people. Corruption, crony and monopoly capitalism, cadre deployment, intolerance of opposition, the conflation of party and state, collectively make up a deadly package of anti-democratic practices that will sooner or later lead to the implosion of the ANC.
Unlike Arab dictatorships, which directly interfere in the lives of citizens and suppress all kinds of freedoms, the ANC tolerates all those rights, yet ignores the people. A commonplace strategy within its own party is to deal with dissidents by "freezing them out" of the mainstream. So it does with its citizens, over confident that the majority is behind them.
The co-opted middle classes are too terrified to initiate uprisings like in the Middle East, and will sooner emigrate than mobilise against the party. But sooner or later, the people will rise up. And the ANC knows it. By then half of them will be dead, their descendants firmly enriched with bank balances elsewhere, and the next generation will have to carry the can.
How cynical is that?
This article first appeared in Die Burger.
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