SOUTH AFRICANS FACE CHOICE BETWEEN MOVING FORWARDS OR BACKWARDS

By Thabo Mbeki and - - Reprint | | Print |

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PRETORIA, Mar 31 2004 (IPS) - On the eve of South Africa\’s third general election and the celebration of our second decade of liberation, one of the major contestants at the polls is a right-wing coalition that would have opposed much of the progress our country has made since 1994, including ending apartheid, writes Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. The Coalition for Change is a right-wing group comprised of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) of Dr. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and the Democratic Alliance (DA), a merger of three right-wing parties. It is opposed to many of the initiatives we have taken since 1994, especially to address the interests of the poor at home and abroad, Mbeki writes in this article. The ANC will continue to put forward its own policies, focused, among other things, on the vigorous intervention of the democratic state to ensure a better life for all our people, both black and white. We will continue to encourage the formation of a people\’s contract among all those, including the overwhelming majority of our population, who are committed to the building of a non-racial and non-sexist people-centred society.

On the eve of South Africa’s third general election and the celebration of our second decade of liberation, one of the major contestants at the polls is a right-wing coalition that would have opposed much of the progress our country has made since 1994, including ending apartheid. The Freedom Alliance, or ”Coalition for Change” (COSAG), comprises the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) of Dr. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and the Democratic Alliance (DA), a merger of three right-wing parties including the Democratic Party (DP), which claimed in election advertisements it had the greatest support among the white, coloured and Indian national minorities. The book ”A Marriage Made in Heaven”, published in 2001 and authored by leading members of the African National Congress (ANC), describes the DP’s attempt to win white votes by ”opposing as loudly as possible every piece of legislation targeted at wiping out the apartheid legacy and creating the legal framework for the fundamental social transformation of our country” . The Inkatha Freedom Party has a long history of allying itself with right-wing forces. In 1992, as South Africa was engaged in negotiations to end apartheid rule, the IFP joined the Conservative Party, the Bophuthatswana and Ciskei Bantustans, and right-wing Afrikaner groups to form an alliance called Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG), whose goal was to derail the process of negotiations and impose, by force if necessary, a settlement on the country that would result, among other things, in an independent ”Kingdom of KwaZulu-Natal” and an Afrikaner homeland. The IFP later formed yet another alliance of similar nature. The truth regarding the formation of the Coalition for Change is reflected in comments made in an interview with IFP leader Dr. Mangosuthu Buthelezi in the March 19-25 ”Mail & Guardian”, in which he spoke of his dedication to the protection of ”white interests”: ”I’ve never disappointed them in any way… In 1979 when [ANC president] Oliver Tambo urged us to join the armed struggle, we refused. If the Zulu nation had taken up arms, South Africa would have easily been in ashes. I protected white interests…” However, the liberation struggle never threatened ”white interests” but sought the establishment of the non-racial and non-sexist democracy that our people are now building. It was for the defeat and destruction of the apartheid system of white minority domination. Accordingly we must conclude that the words ”white interests” are a mere euphemism for apartheid, for white minority rule and privilege. The DA has been claiming that together with its allies it will win 30 percent of the votes in the forthcoming elections, thus constituting a credible opposition to the ANC, allegedly in the interest of democracy rather than the promotion of the agenda of this opposition. So keen is the DA to see itself emerge as a stronger and more credible opposition to the ANC that it has not hesitated to denigrate the other opposition parties. Earlier this year, at the National Assembly, one of its leaders said the DA, and none of the other parties, offered the possibility to constitute a credible opposition. The party has gone so far as to assert openly that a vote for the other opposition parties, excluding its coalition partners, would be a vote wasted. Whether the DA and its allies will receive the electoral support they claim they will is a matter that will be resolved at the polls. However, we must note the sustained effort of the DA and the IFP, at least since the end of 2000, to form a right-wing coalition that sees itself as potentially capable of forming a government in the medium term. There is absolutely nothing wrong with entertaining this hope. The Coalition for Change presents itself as the best guarantee of democracy in our country and the only barrier to the emergence of a one-party dictatorship. However, it is our duty to tell the truth about what the Coalition for Change really stands for. It is a right-wing group opposed to many of the initiatives we have taken since 1994, especially to address the interests of the poor at home and abroad. I have no doubt that the South African electorate has the capacity to see the reality behind the disguise of seemingly seductive words and recognise the Coalition’s scare tactics for what they are. It will decide freely whether it wants our country to have the kind of right-wing opposition envisioned by the DA. For its part, the ANC will continue to put forward its own policies, focused, among other things, on the vigorous intervention of the democratic state to ensure a better life for all our people, both black and white. We will continue to encourage the formation of a people’s contract among all those, including the overwhelming majority of our population, who are committed to the building of a non-racial and non-sexist people-centred society. In this regard, we will continue to work with the NNP and others, respecting their independence and appreciating their commitment to the construction of a new South Africa that truly belongs to all who live in it. This is what our country needs to eradicate the terrible legacy of apartheid. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS/ANC Today)