ANC Youth League's ego means it cannot separate party from state
Two things are apparent from Julius Malema and the ANC Youth League's (ANCYL) words and deeds:
Firstly, they have little respect and certainly lack the ability to properly identify and embody the principles that define our democratic state; and secondly, they are quite clearly unaware of this shortcoming.
The incident reported in today's papers where the ANCYL president allegedly called a MEC and asked him to intervene after he (Julius Malema) was pulled over for speeding, is just the latest in a long list of such incidents and clearly illustrates the size of the Youth League president's ego (see report).
The ANCYL is bad for South Africa's democracy and its leaders do not respect those values and ideals that our political seniors should exemplify.
As of today the DA is going to set out, every time the ANCYL transgresses a democratic principle, what that principle is, how the ANCYL has violated it and what the consequences of this are.
Last week the ANCYL demonstrated a profound disrespect for the principle of university autonomy, this week is has demonstrated it is unable to separate party and state. It is our hope that by setting out these principles and how the ANCYL violated them, it will go some way to highlighting the problem and better informing best democratic practice. If the ANCYL wants to make the transition from a petulant organisation which rants and raves and whose daily practice runs contrary to the spirit and substance of our Constitution, it needs to do some serious introspection.
The democratic principle that the ANCYL has today transgressed:
Separation between party and state
In any constitutional democracy there needs to be a separation between party and state. This is because those people elected to public office, regardless of which political party they come from, are elected to serve the interests of all citizens. If this principle is not abided by, and elected officials use the state to further their own interests, the consequences are fairly profound:
On the one hand the state's resources are immense and its reach far, and if these two things are not used fairly and objectively, democracy is subverted.
On the other hand, government's mandate is the Constitution and its implementation. If political agendas are elevated above this, democracy is again subverted, because the Constitution is designed to serve the interests of all citizens and not only a few.
Julius Malema's attempt to phone a MEC is a direct violation of this principle. Julius Malema is a party representative and by allegedly using his influence as a member of the ruling party, to get a public representative to intervene in a private transgression of the law is not only to show disrespect for the rules and regulations that govern the lives of all South Africans, but contempt for democratic practice and the separation between party and state.
Statement issued by Khume Ramulifho, MPL, Democratic Alliance Youth national spokesperson, November 1 2009
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