CSM column on South Africa, Thursday
Monday night and Tuesday morning I wrote a column for the CSM reflecting on the state of South Africa's democracy, ten years after that historic first democratic election they had in April 1994. Of course, they had their third democratic election on Wednesday. My column is in Thursday's paper. Tell me what you think.
Personally, I think I left out one important point, which is just the sheer human dignity factor of being recognized as a full citizen with all the rights and responsibilities pertaining thereto. I guess I was sort of taking that for granted. But I shouldn't have.
Good column. Have you been following the election results? I was hoping that the ANC would finish with less than two thirds of the vote simply because unchallenged one-party rule is bad for democracy, but I can't find it in me to be displeased; it's done a good job all things considered and its management of the transition gives it the right to rule.
Thanks for your comments, Jonathan. I agree with you about the ANC, in general. I'd love to see an age breakdown of the voting behavior. Are you aware of one? My sense is that many younger voters are more disillusioned w/ the ANC and don't have the old pre-1994 loyalty to it.
You may be right about younger voters being more disillusioned with the ANC; I've seen this argument made in several places, although never with hard numbers to back it up. I suspect that it will be a long time before the ANC's dominance is challenged, though, given that it has only been 10 years since the transition to majority rule and the views of voters above 30 were shaped by the anti-apartheid struggle.