By John Bavoso, Africa Contributor
In the mid-1990's, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu was heralding the end of South Africa's apartheid system and the formation of a Rainbow Nation, he also characterized the transition to a multiracial democracy as no less than a miracle. Now that the country has just undergone its fourth round of democratic elections, the time has come to take stock of the state of democratization in South Africa and what the results reveal about the future of this process.
This round of elections, held at the end of April, could certainly be deemed miraculous in how well they went, especially in the context of a region in which free and fair elections are more the exception than the rule. The U.S. Department of State released a statement on April 28, affirming that “the vibrancy and durability of South African democracy was evidenced by the participation of 26 political parties and a voter turnout of close to 80 percent of registered voters,” and commending “the voters who demonstrated patience and commitment to the democratic process,” while acknowledging the legitimacy of the elections themselves. While the mechanics of the elections show that the ideals of democracy are being implemented, the results reveal that the country may still be experiencing the equivalent of democratic growing pains.
Jacob Zuma, the head of the African National Congress (ANC), was elected as the country's new president, and South Africa's first Zulu head of state. While this was by no means a surprise victory, and the ANC, the main ruling party since the end of apartheid, maintained the two-thirds majority of seats in parliament it needs to effectively legislate in an uninhibited manner, the increased popularity of, and support for opposition parties reveals that many South Africans are becoming disenchanted by the ANC's decade and a half long rule of the country.
The potentially troubling aspect of the rise of this opposition is that it falls along discernibly racial and geographic lines. The ANC has traditionally relied on the support of the country's middle class black population, but a large amount of support in this election came from more rural areas of the country, largely due to Zuma's ethnic identity, which the new president has been extremely vocal about promoting. Many observers have criticized Zuma by accusing him of being a more polarizing than unifying figure in South African politics.
This may help to explain the marked increase in support for the Democratic Alliance (DA), a center-left political party which was founded in 2000 with the purpose of directly opposing the ANC, especially amongst white and mixed race individuals primarily living in the urban and suburban Western Cape region. At the same time as the DA is gaining support, smaller political parties are losing it, turning the political landscape into one of just a few large parties. If Zuma is going to maintain control of a united South Africa, he will need to prove that his administration has the entire country's best interests foremost in his mind, not just his party's.
Other critics have also noted that divides within the ANC itself may threaten to destabilize and fractionalize the political culture of the entire country. Because the party represents upwards of 60 percent of the country's voting population, it represents an incredibly diverse range of personalities, ideologies, and issues. While this multi-faceted nature may actually draw disparate voters to the party, once the ANC assumes power, it may also make it difficult for the organization to actually rule effectively. Zuma's own emphasis on his Zulu ethnicity, coupled with his previous controversial statements regarding the role of women and homosexuals in South African society, suggests that there is still very much the potential for turmoil to replace cohesion in the future.
While South Africa's fourth democratic elections may have gone off without a hitch procedurally, the results suggest that continued vigilance will be necessary for the future. As the country continues to be the democratic miracle of the region, it will be important to watch how the Rainbow Nation is ultimately able to unify and integrate its incredibly diverse elements under one vibrant and legitimate political system.
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