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Keeping our eyes on the right ballSouth Africa’s political high season for 2010 kicked off in February with a number of high-profile commemorations of the events of 20 years ago which dramatically changed the course of history in our country.
Since they are still around, some of the main actors on the national stage at the time of those events, particularly joint Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, rightly so featured strongly during those commemorations.
It is, however, easy to become lost in debates about the relative value or demerits of the contributions of individuals during that time. We have seen some elements hereof in the public discourse during the past few weeks.
We would do well to remember that those events firstly played out in a broader historical context that saw the end of the so-called Cold War and rapid expansion of globalisation in which the apartheid system had left South Africa isolated in most spheres of international interaction – from sport to the all-important source of material wellbeing: economic development and integration of markets.
Most importantly, those events of 20 years ago marked not only the end of a political system and an era in our history, but they were merely the beginning of a new socio-political process in our country – the birth of our nation in the true sense of the word.
The process of growing to maturity is long not over, and often will be messy and not always comfortable.
One of the legacies of our past is that at this stage we are not governed by a political party in the conventional sense of the word, but by a political alliance born out of the circumstances of yesteryear. This has left us, for now, without some of the checks and balances that one would find in ‘normal’ societies. That is where the roots can be found of the often vigorous debates about issues such as nationalisation of certain industries and the extent of the role of the State in society.
We would do well as a nation not to become too deeply involved in the personal lives and styles of the actors who presently occupy the national stage. Important as the role of any player at any stage may be, they will always merely be passing through. It is the socio-political processes that really linger and are of ultimate importance.
At this point in our history, the ball on which to keep our eyes is our succeeding in establishing a dispensation where the interests of political party and trade unions, state and civil society, political party and/or alliance and civil administration come into stable equilibrium with one another. Only in a South Africa, where there are proper checks and balances, will the rights of all groups and individuals and sectors truly be protected – and we will be a truly normal democratic society.
