| Review of: | Opposing voices: liberalism and opposition in South Africa today edited by Milton Shain |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Merle Lipton |
| Reviewed in: | International Affairs |
| Date accepted online: | 10/04/2008 |
| Published in print: | Volume 83, Issue 06, Pages 1193-1234 |
Book Reviews: Sub-Saharan Africa
This book is a collection of essays by leading South African liberals in honour of Helen Suzman. Despite the fact that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has, thus far, honoured South Africa's liberal democratic constitution, many liberals are pessimistic about the prospects for liberal democracy.
Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, David Welsh, Rhoda Kadalie and Tony Leon question the ANC's commitment to democracy, arguing that neither the ANC, nor the Afrikaner National Party it succeeded, were convinced democrats; both sides only accepted South Africa's liberal post-apartheid constitution because of the political stalemate neither could win. In a chapter containing interesting new research on the African electorate, Lawrence Schlemmer argues that, apart from democracy's weak historical roots, socio-economic conditions have not yet produced the middle-class base he believes is essential for democracy (what about India?), and that the emerging African middle class, while it accepts the principle of political opposition, would not support the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), even when agreeing with its policies. Schlemmer doubts whether liberal democracy can survive 'outside its original habitat in the developed economies of the West'. Hermann Giliomee argues that the priority liberals accord to individual rights ignores the reality of group identities and mobilization and that liberalism is unlikely to succeed in multi-ethnic societies (what about the US and India; and are Spain and Britain as 'homogenous' as usually assumed?).
Sipho Seepe provides a more positive assessment of the prospects for liberal democracy. Seepe is critical of the ANC's use of its electoral dominance to 'ride roughshod over the opposition' and to create 'a culture of fear' that inhibits the watchdog role of parliament and media and 'suffocates political discussion'. But Seepe also points to the long tradition of liberalism in South Africa, including within the ANC (Z. K. Matthews, Luthuli, Mandela). In his clear, thoughtful paper, Seepe highlights the distinctive strands within South African liberalism: black liberals tend to stress equality while whites stress freedom and independence from the state. Seepe is worried about the ANC's hostility to white liberals, which the opposition of many, though not all of them to (race-based) affirmative action has intensified, and urges liberals to pay more attention to socio-economic inequality. But, as editor Milton Shain comments, few of the contributors to this volume grapple with issues such as land reform and poverty. However, as the ANC's record in office shows, concern with their own material interests is as characteristic of South Africa's emerging black elite as it is of its established white elite. Indeed, the economic policies of the ANC and DA are more similar than their hostile rhetoric suggests.
A major threat to liberal democracy obviously lies in the fact that, in any contest for mass support between these competing elites, the black elite might play the race card against the DA, which is white-led and supported by the white, coloured and Indian minorities. Tony Leon, outgoing leader of the small but effective DA, rejected the ANC's depiction of his robust criticisms as racist and unpatriotic. Leon also increased the DA's share of the vote from 2 per cent in 1994 to 12 per cent (2 million votes) in 2004, including a high proportion of the professional and business elite, and 5 per cent of the African vote. Leon's successor, Helen Zillie, hopes to build on this and break the mould that reduces elections to 'racial censuses' and the DA to a party of protest rather than a serious contender for power. Zillie is likely to adopt a 'less abrasive' style and to give more attention to the need for 'transformation'. She also urges liberals to confront the importance of group identities and cultural differences and to recognize that white liberals are regarded as 'remote from the concerns of ordinary people' and as having 'confident, unspoken assumptions of their own superiority'. These ethnic and cultural factors are undoubtedly important, but what is, surely, essential for strengthening liberal democracy is for both of South Africa's well-heeled, fiercely competing elites to rein in their own material interests and adopt more enlightened, long-term economic policies that raise the dismal mass living standards that persist in post-apartheid South Africa. Liberal, and other, analysts, for their part, need to question overly-rigid assumptions about the time it is likely to take-in Africa as elsewhere-to evolve liberal institutions, as well as the likely form of these (always imperfect and constantly evolving) institutions.