Dear friends and fellow South Africans,
Election fever has well and truly started. While in some industries May 2014 seems a long way off, in politics it’s just around the corner. There are just eight months left before the 2014 national elections. As always, election fever brings with it some of the best and worst that politics has to offer.
Looking at the positive side first, we have welcomed President Zuma’s decision this week to send the “Secrecy Bill” back to Parliament. Throughout a long and uphill battle, waged by opposition parties, civil society, churches, the media and even traditional leaders, it seemed we just could not convince the ANC of the unconstitutionality of the Protection of State Information Bill.
The IFP fought hard to see a public domain and public interest defence clause added to the Bill, to ensure that no one would be criminalised for having information that Government deems secret. That could conceivably be information about Government corruption, fraud or political scandal.
The IFP joined hands with other opposition parties represented in Parliament, against the Secrecy Bill, and together we held rallies across South Africa to raise awareness over what the ruling Party was trying to do. We believe the Secrecy Bill, in its present form, will curtail freedom of speech and liberty in South Africa. That is a direct attack on our Constitution and on all we fought for throughout the liberation struggle.
Within the parliamentary Committee, the IFP tasked the Hon. Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini MP with fighting the Bill. As a constitutional lawyer, Dr Ambrosini immediately highlighted the unconstitutionality of the Bill.
Strangely, the advice given to the Committee by Parliament’s legal advisers did not.
Seeking time for the public outcry to mount to the point where the ANC could no longer ignore it, to Dr Ambrosini organised the first filibuster in the history of South Africa’s Parliament, which successfully delayed the passing of this controversial Bill for another four months.
This has proved fundamental to the fight against the Bill, for had this Bill come to the President at any other time than in the run-up to an election, one must wonder if the President would simply have taken up his pen and signed it.
After all, the ANC opposed and ignored the will of the people every step of the way in the processing of this Bill. It is almost surreal that, after all that, the President would find concerns of unconstitutionality now.
The IFP intends to keep at this fight in the interests of our country and its freedom. We will do so through the Ad Hoc Committee on the Protection of State Information Bill, established by Parliament this week. Reflecting the proportional representation in Parliament, the Committee is predominantly comprised of members from the ANC. But the IFP sits on this Committee, and our voice will be heard loud and clear. Dr Ambrosini’s voice in this fight is still being viewed on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTlG9PeA9Q
With the amount of power held by the ANC, it is not always easy for opposition parties to ensure that their contribution is visible, even when it is effective. There are, after all, 142 parties registered to vote in next year’s election. How many of them do we see or hear? This brings us to the worst of what election fever brings.
Yesterday I participated in a march on the Union Buildings alongside the families of victims of the Marikana Mine Massacre. We were petitioning Government to do the right thing, and pay the legal fees of everyone involved in the Commission of Inquiry, not just the lawyers of the State.
To my mind, the Inquiry will only be fair and successful if both sides are able to present their case on an equal footing. As it stands, the balance of power weighs heavily in favour of those who opened fire in Marikana.
The IFP was not alone in supporting the families and workers of Marikana.
Members of the clergy and several opposition parties attended the march. SABC news coverage showed the IFP, the DA, COPE and the UDM. Agang’s logo was also in the background, and at the forefront was Mr Julius Malema’s EFF.
Mr Malema is not keen to share this cause with other parties, for he launched the EFF on the back of Marikana and is determined to position himself as the champion of struggling workers. Thus, when we all congregated to begin the march, the EFF broke ranks and sought the TV cameras, going on ahead in their red berets.
What worries me though is not Mr Malema’s unruly behaviour, but his election message. He made it clear that the workers in Marikana are suffering because they are black. This echoes his comments in the past, for instance that whites are thieves, and his many attempts to polarise our country on the basis of race.
This goes against everything we have tried to achieve in South Africa.
When I hear Mr Malema’s message of racial polarisation, I think “God help us” if he gains any power in 2014. His message threatens to destroy the legacy of leaders like Inkosi Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela. Given a platform, the EFF will reverse the gains we have made in nation building and social cohesion.
At a time like this, when South Africa faces such dire challenges of unemployment, poverty and corruption, stirring divisions is both easy and terribly dangerous.
The message of the IFP is one of shared ownership, shared responsibility and a shared future. This is the message we carry whether it’s election time or not. In fact, a journalist writing for Drum magazine recently asked me whether I’ve started campaigning yet. I explained that I live every day as though it were an election campaign.
I am a servant of my people and they have a right to my best every day. I don’t think we can knock on people’s doors once every five years and ask for their vote. We need to build a relationship of trust and shared vision, and that takes time. I have put in 38 years doing that, and the results always remind me that this is the way democracy should be done.
Election fever certainly brings out the best and the worst in politics. But for the IFP, only the best, all the time, is good enough.
Yours in the service of our nation,
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP
