We must never abuse our constitution to justify injustice

There is a new and disturbing trend in South African politics.  It comes from a faction of the ANC that knows the honeymoon is over.  They acknowledge the ANC is failing to deliver, but they refuse to acknowledge the reasons: cadre deployment, corruption, and poor policy compounded by weak implementation.

Up until now the ANC has used history as a scapegoat to explain its failures.  Whatever goes wrong, blame apartheid. The DA recognises that apartheid's bitter legacy is still very much with us, and will take a long time to overcome.  But we believe that efforts to eradicate it are hampered when we hide behind "apartheid" to avoid taking responsibility for our current failures.  Recently (and to his credit) Jacob Zuma has said the same thing.  He has, on several occasions, made the point that we cannot continue to blame apartheid for everything as we approach the 20th anniversary of democracy.

We hoped this approach would result in a little more introspection, analysis and course correction.  Unfortunately, it has not.  The ANC's populists have found another scapegoat.  It is far more dangerous than merely blaming the past.  Indeed, it has deeply disturbing implications.   We are now increasingly hearing, from a faction of the ANC linked to Julius Malema, that the government cannot deliver because the constitution prevents it from doing so!  A recent speech in Parliament by Malusi Gigaba (one of this group) was an example of this insidious trend.

It is based on fallacious logic which illustrates yet again why ‘liberation movements' usually make such bad democratic governments.  They equate "liberation" with the seizure and centralisation of their personal power, which they inevitably abuse to entrench and enrich their inner circle.  This group is the embodiment of the well known aphorism: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Because of this ‘iron law' of politics, genuine democracy requires a constitution with various checks and balances to prevent power abuse.   A Bill of Rights, an independent judiciary and other independent institutions are essential to ensure that leaders serve the people and not themselves.   This is inconvenient and irritating for the ANC's inner circle.  They want the freedom to loot, with freedom from accountability.  The constitution stands in their way, so they are turning on it.  And, inevitably, in order to hide their real motives, they play the race card.  The ANC cannot deliver, they say, because the constitution was designed to protect whites.

By using ‘race' the ANC's populists hope to seize all levers of power, and entrench themselves for another few decades, to loot the state and enrich themselves with impunity.  Whether they succeed depends on the voters.  Will they see through this dangerous and self serving argument?  Or will South African voters, like so many others in emerging democracies, be fooled by the race card into voting to destroy their constitution  --  and with it their own (and everyone else's) future? The thousands of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa, many of whom repeatedly voted for Robert Mugabe, will understand my argument.  Now it is at least a decade too late.  

The DA's biggest challenge is to convince South Africans that their vote is not a choice between competing race groups.  It is a choice between two different kinds of future: one in which racial nationalism is abused, yet again, to entrench the interests of the few who benefit from a closed, crony kleptocracy; or a society in which the state protects everyone's rights, redresses past wrongs, and extends real opportunities to all. This is a make-or-break choice for South Africa.  It will mean the difference between becoming a failed state or a successful democracy.

The DA's job is to provide a political vehicle capable of attracting support from all South Africans who want a successful, shared future.  In doing so we must be sure that we never abuse our constitution to justify injustice.  On the contrary, we must demonstrate that the constitution is the best tool we have to eradicate the legacy of apartheid, and avoid repeating the tragedy of racial nationalism and power abuse.

There is no issue that illustrates the challenge we face more clearly than land reform.  The racial nationalists in the ANC argue as follows: white colonialists stole black people's land; apartheid entrenched this; now the constitution protects property rights; therefore the constitution is a device to protect whites and prevent redress.  It is easy to understand how attractive this argument is to millions of South Africans.

It is essential for the DA's policy on land reform to be absolutely clear:  we must redress past wrongs, and do so effectively.  But we must also avoid methods that enable the political elite to follow Mugabe's example of disguising, through racial rhetoric, a plan to parcel out farmland to a small political elite, destroying agricultural production and driving millions into starvation.  This is the example that Julius Malema openly endorsed when he returned from Zimbabwe. He intends to emulate Mugabe's methods here.

What is our alternative?  We must begin by acknowledging the facts.  The 1913 Land Act was apartheid's original sin. It decreed that only certain parts of the country (a mere 7% of the total land mass) could be owned by black South Africans. The 1913 Land Act forced millions of people off the land and deprived them of their means of survival. The compounding crime, Bantu Education, deprived them of the tools for acquiring education and skills to gain a foothold in the industrialising economy. We cannot duck these facts of history.  We have to face them. We live with the consequences today and we have to address them. Redress is an essential element in this process.

The DA's forthcoming national congress will be a platform from which we will spell out exactly how redress is possible in an "open, opportunity society for all", by using the instruments of the constitution.  We will pay particular attention to issues such as land reform that extends and restores land ownership to many more South Africans.  This process must respect the fact that our farmers feed our nation; preserve and enhance the productivity of the land; and protect the property rights which are the foundation of every successful economy. It is possible to achieve all these objectives under the constitution.  It is impossible if we destroy our constitution.

Although provincial and local spheres of government have limited powers, we must try to implement our policies as much as possible were we govern.  The more we succeed, the more we will show South Africa that their choice for the future is not a choice between race groups, nor a choice between the ANC and apartheid.  More and more people will realise that ANC corruption and cronyism shuts down their opportunities just as much as apartheid once did.

Real, progressive change is what the DA must bring about where we govern. The more we do so, the more desperate the ANC will become and the more they will play the race card against us. It is the only strategy they have left.  But the more we implement our policies, the less their worn-out labels will stick.

This article by Helen Zille first appeared in SA Today, the weekly online newsletter of the leader of the Democratic Alliance.

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