South Africa is proud of its hard-won democracy – and yet some South African citizens would dispense with it, in exchange for better services. Can a state be called a democracy if no one believes in it?
In many nations worldwide, democracy is the only game in town. So entrenched are democratic values in their systems that it seems impossible to consider an alternate form of government.
And yet in South Africa, a relatively young democracy, 72% of citizens would be willing to forgo elections if a non-elected government could provide employment, housing, and security.
Unemployment, followed by crime, electricity, water supply, and corruption are considered the most pressing issues facing South Africans – all of which have been promised to be fixed, but not delivered on for the last thirty years.
People are clearly drawing a link between failing public services and the (dis)functionality of democracy. This is amplified by the fact that, according to the same Afrobarometer survey, 63% of South Africans do not feel close to any political party.
According to these facts, most South Africans do not feel represented by their politicians, nor do they feel served by them. This is unsurprising to anyone who has been paying attention to local politics in the last few years.
In the 2024 national elections, South Africans showed their disillusionment with democracy, with over 11 million voters not bothering to vote and an all-time low voter turnout. These sad statistics point to a decline in the belief that voting makes any difference.
I can’t fault anyone for assuming the democratic system is the issue. One of the supposedly most democratic countries on earth, The United States, consistently silences the voices of its citizens by manipulating voter districts, filibustering the senate
to stall popular bills being passed, and allowing Super PACS to fund election campaigns with dark money.
How can anyone be expected to believe in democracy if this is one of its most ‘prime’ examples?
While I’m aware of our democratic government’s numerous failings, I still believe in democracy. This is because what most people understand democracy to be is a watered down, exploited version of its true form.
Many liberal democracies today are bogged down by bureaucratic processes and swayed by the power of corporate interests. These systems, with their dysfunctionality and inequality, should not be looked to as examples of ‘real’ democracy.
According to Helende Landemore, real democracy—democracy that actually delivers on its aims—emerges by bringing popular deliberation and crowd wisdom into the political realm. It only functions through popular participation, and is fashioned by the majority, not from the top-down.
In an unequal country such as South Africa, ‘real’ democracy then faces the hurdle of an all-powerful minority and a disenfranchised majority. However, this sort of democracy does exist on the outer edges of our society, in grassroots organizations and local politics.
In his book, Amakomiti: Grassroots Democracy in South African Shack Settlements, Trevor Ngwane sheds light on the direct, non-hierarchical forms of democracy that exist in shack settlements across the country.
Community groups come together to provide for and defend their members, become self-sufficient, and focus on social development on their own terms. Ngwane calls this “democracy on the margins,” but emphasizes it could come to serve all of us in society.
Would more South Africans believe in democracy if ours functioned differently? I certainly hope so. It is South Africa’s overall lack of development that gives democracy a bad name, not the system itself.
So, while South Africa and other countries continue to call themselves true democracies, it is imperative to remember that some democracies are more equal than others, and that only we should ever hold the power to decide our futures.
FEATURED IMAGE: Ruby Delahunt. Photo: Leon Sadiki.
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Wits Vuvuzela, Voters, stop waiting for messiah, save yourselves, May 2023.
- Wits Vuvuzela, UDF40: Calls for active participation in democracy, August 2023.
