WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-02-05 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[I think the events of December 2007 to the present, and going on to 2009 are part of a major turn in South African politics. This is the first major turn since 1994. We’re now heading into newer and much more dangerous waters. Jan]
By Raenette Taljaard
Events in the past few weeks have shown that South Africans may be witnessing more than the charting of new waters within the tripartite alliance, post-Polokwane.
At least two events made the distinct impression that the relationship between the government and South Africa’s largest opposition party – the Democratic Alliance (DA) – may be entering new waters, though it is early days to make such a definitive statement.
Having observed many of the lowest points in this relationship up close, it is clear that there has certainly been a slight change of tenor, if not tactics of engagement.
| Mbeki is now free to make friends with the opposition |
Though some cynics would say this is because a change of tenure for President Mbeki is imminent post-Polokwane, and that he has discovered the ferocity of the opposition within his own ranks, this cannot be the only glib reason for a slight change in the weather of bipartisan politics.
But let’s inspect these two recent events more closely.
Firstly, a few weeks ago DA leader Helen Zille requested a meeting with President Mbeki to discuss what she perceived to be a deepening moral and constitutional crisis with indictments served on prominent South Africans and clear efforts to attack the integrity of the judiciary in the context of these indictments.
The agreement by President Thabo Mbeki to meet DA leader and Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille at the Union Building to discuss the question of the National Commissioner of Police, the quagmire around the matter of incorporating the Scorpions into the SAPS, the pending corruption trial of newly elected ANC president Jacob Zuma, and the national (avoidable) energy emergency situation certainly broke new ground.
This was new ground for Mbeki, though it was well-worn ground during the presidency of former president and national icon Nelson Mandela.
| The IFP has already relaunched itself |
During his tenure it was commonplace for the president to brief leaders of opposition parties on matters of great national importance.
It is to Zille’s credit that she had taken the initiative, not to rest after her first encounter with President Mbeki pursuant to her election as the new leader of the DA, but to approach the head of state responsibly about matters of grave national concern that transcend the ANC’s internal party politics.
It is equally to Mbeki’s credit that he agreed to brief her on matters she raised.
The counter argument to this optimism about a new mode of relating between government and opposition is, of course, that Mbeki is now free to make friends with the opposition, given that he has lost so many other friends at Polokwane.
But this will, I believe, belittle the extent of what could be occurring, as another event demonstrated this week.
As the contours of the national energy crisis became dimly lit in the midst of rolling load-shedding or blackouts (as they are called elsewhere from California to Ontario), DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha called for a sitting of the house to discuss the growing emergency.
To the credit of National Assembly Speaker, head of the ANC’s Political Committee in Parliament and chairperson of the ANC Baleka Mbete, and chair of the NCOP Mninwa Mahlangu, they agreed to convene the house for a discussion in terms of Rule 7(2) – an unusual step.
Given the numerous unsuccessful attempts by the DA to request such sittings in the recent past – for matters related to the suspension of Vusi Pikoli as head of the NPA as well as the drama surrounding National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, this approach by the Speaker marked a new shift in agreeing to an opposition request.
Yet again, a positive explanatory emphasis as well as a negative one can be attached to these events.
Firstly, on the positive side, it is possible that the strong personal relationship that Sandra Botha and Baleka Mbete forged whilst Botha was a chairperson of the National Assembly won the day, as the Speaker knew that this would be more than a call from the opposition to draw blood and grandstand – as the proposals Helen Zille took to President Mbeki to alleviate the energy crunch showed.
Secondly, on the negative and perhaps more realistic side is the fact that the winds of change are still blowing through the ANC itself, post-Polokwane, and that this represented the first clear statement that the Speaker will wield her tools to exact accountability from the supporters of President Thabo Mbeki who hold high office, and from whom accountability is expected in the months of his tenure that are left.
Irrespective of the cause, the opportunities for the opposition will only be realised if they heckle less and propose more, so that South Africans can see that they are a force with proposals to be reckoned with.
Whilst Zille and party spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt struck the correct tone, the self-congratulatory heckling across opposition benches could have been avoided given that a special sitting had been called.
What is interesting is the clear fact that whichever explanation for the calling of the house wins the day, it is to the benefit of the opposition to be seen to be making an impact on both the process and substance of the debate, though they may merely be the beneficiaries of the ongoing forces that have been unleashed within the heartbeat of the ANC at Polokwane.
It is, however, not only the DA that appears to have realised that there are new opportunities to be had in the context of the dramas within the ANC. The IFP has already relaunched itself and appears to be in full campaign mode in anticipation of the 2009 election.
Equally, the Independent Democrats have taken a hard-edged opposition approach calling for a motion of no confidence in the context of the energy crisis.
There can be no doubt that the opposition forces are looking at the 2009 poll. But so is the ANC; its appointment of a subcommittee chaired by Valli Moosa to look into the realignment of opposition forces suggests that it is aware of the impact its internal dramas could have as a catalytic force for change in the ranks of the opposition parties.
While there was the risk of a split within the ANC before Polokwane, the risk appears to have diminished with the left-wing ascendancy in the new party structures.
But it will be fascinating to watch the brief of the ANC’s realignment committee and any changes with respect to strategy and tactics on the eve of an election.
What remains clear, however, after Mayor Zille’s address to the Cape Town City Council this week, is that the other arenas for showdowns between the DA and ANC still loom large.
Whether with respect to clashes with local government MEC Richard Dyanti about the removal of Councillor Chabaan; or the revelations of the apparent financial misconduct regarding golden handshakes from the era in the city of the ANC National Working Committee’s Nomaindia Mfeketo; or the possible clash between local and provincial reports into “spygate” on the horizon, the relationship that has seen these two small breakthroughs in the past week may be far from a fully fledged bipartisan approach to national questions.
This may not even be desirable on the eve of an election, but what the events of the past week have shown is that the ANC and the opposition appear to be charting new waters – waters that will require emphasis on both contest and contestation and co-operation on national matters.
This will make for an interesting, different and challenging election campaign in 2009.
Whilst time will tell whether such an assertion is an overstatement, recent events have suggested that the old-style ANC-DA politics of a dialogue of the deaf may have altered somewhat. Such a change will pose challenges and opportunities for both the opposition as well as the ruling party.
Importantly, the ANC’s Strategy and Tactics document adopted in Polokwane certainly does not appear to entirely discredit the notion of opposition as inherently disloyal any longer. But ultimately, it will be the voters who decide what they think about all this fluidity in the next election.