By Glen Sungano Mpani and Nqobizitha Mlilo
At the time of his arrest and release from prison, Nelson Mandela was not the highest ranking member of the African National Congress (ANC). Yet he assumed the face of the struggle and became the symbol of resistance of the black majority to apartheid rule. During and immediately after the transition, conservative and liberal white South Africans appropriated Mandela to themselves as an instrument of protecting their economic power. They sought to extract and accept Mandela without accepting the liberation group which he fought steadfastly for.
Within the collective leadership of the ANC, Nelson Mandela, as an individual, fought the brutal racist apartheid regime with admirable conviction. He was instrumental in negotiating a peaceful transition of South Africa from apartheid to a non-racial society. While true that he acted much quicker than his fellow comrades in offering the olive branch to the apartheid leadership, it must not be lost to history that the ANC always recognised that a negotiated new South Africa was the way forward.
Mandela deservedly takes credit for the smooth transition from apartheid to democracy. However, fair minded people may legitimately differ on the wisdom - short and long term - of the choices he and others within the ANC made in seeking the transition from apartheid to a democratic South Africa. Sadly, as we see today those political choices have not resulted in the delivery of the other promises of the liberation.
The death of Mandela comes at the dawn of a country celebrating 20 years of democracy. Democracy brought significant changes to the people of South Africa. Yet it faces many unresolved political and socio-economic challenges. In the South Africa that Mandela leaves behind, the vast majority of South Africans live in extreme poverty. They are yet to enjoy any socio-economic benefits as a result of political independence. The living conditions of the black majority remain dehumanising. In a land of plenty, millions have no running water, no electricity and poor sanitary conditions. The values espoused in the Freedom Charter, the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress and its allies the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress, and signed in 1965 remain pipe dreams. Miners, domestic workers, farm workers and civil servants do not have the same rights as all others who work. Rent and prices remain high, food not plentiful, millions still go hungry and education remains an elusive dream for the average South African.
Mandela leaves a South Africa with the poor more exploited, middle class sinking in debt and with schools largely under funded with poorly trained and paid teachers. The culture and psyche of violence remains intact. Informal settlements are the order of the day. What prevails is contrary to the values espoused in the Freedom Charter. The economy of the country remains unreconstructed with the white minority and international capital still in charge of the commanding heights of the economy. The rich becoming richer and the poor becoming even poorer.
While we celebrate the legacy of Mandela, we need a critical and honest debate on what he was unable to accomplish and whether South Africa has the right type of leadership to answer the economic questions that need to be addressed post-Mandela. As frustration grows due to the unrealized promises, one is not being alarmist to say that the future political stability of South Africa is unclear.
Sadly, what propelled the struggle for freedom could potentially die a still birth if the current crop of ANC leadership fails to critically reflect on itself and the economic path they are pursuing. South Africans demand for socio-economic rights and justice deserves to be given more attention and more effort to ensure it is realised. Its constitution remains one of the best for guaranteeing socio-economic rights, yet the reality remains elusive.
As South Africans go to the polls next year, the ruling ANC government will be desperate to ensure that it holds on to its traditional support base, which is now threatened by new parties like the Economic Freedom Fighters established to pursue the economic clauses contained in the Freedom Charter. No doubt Mandela’s legacy will be prominently used for electioneering. Liberation movements always resort to the nostalgia of the past for persuasion when their power is threatened. With a litany of problems surrounding the ANC and failure to deliver on previous election promises, only the memories, values and aspirations as espoused by Mandela and his generation will get people to vote for them. The guilt of not betraying the man who endured 27 years in prison will very likely get the majority black voters to vote for the ANC. The ANC will do well to restore the promise of freedom and build and deliver an economy that works for all South Africans.
Fare ye well Madiba, the future remains uncertain.
Glen Sungano Mpani, is a governance practitioner and Nqobizitha Mlilo is an advocate practising law in Johannesburg.
(C) Politico 12/12/13
