A surprising number of political pundits have questioned whether a breakaway from the African National Congress would be good for ‘democracy' in South Africa. The basic complaints are that the new movement lacks principle, is motivated purely by personal grievance, and is compromised by its association with the abuses of the Mbeki era.
In Business Day last week the UCT academic, Anthony Butler, put forward a more substantive argument for the dangers for democracy of a possible split. The questions he raises really concern whether ANC dominance has been good or bad for democracy in South Africa.
Butler's argued that the ruling party's dominance "has allowed the liberation movement to secure political stability, to defuse ethnic and racial tensions, and to offer a coherent and prudent programme of government. A strong ANC has also filled the vacuum left by weak liberal and state institutions to resolve otherwise intractable conflicts of interest and opinion in a divided society."
It would be better in the circumstances, Butler suggested, for a split to come later rather than sooner - after some two decades of ANC rule. Liberal institutions would, by this time, be "robust enough to copy with the immense internal strains that a more fluid political system would generate."
