Patrick Cull on Monday

Rejection may be a blessing

ANY hopes that DA leader Tony Leon may have been harbouring of some kind of improvement in relations with the ANC were well and truly dashed by Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi when he spoke in the state of the Nation debate on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Leon’s warm handshake with President Thabo Mbeki after his re-election as president; his markedly conciliatory televised comments on the state of the nation address and his speech during the debate, were rendered meaningless in an instant, as Mr Mufamadi bluntly rejected the hand that had been offered.

It was, as DA chief whip Douglas Gibson very correctly described later in the debate, a “brutal rejection”.

Nor were Mr Mufamadi’s remarks about IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi any sweeter.

Commenting on Chief Buthelezi’s remark that he had now been involved in South African politics for 50 years, the minister noted that they had not all been “covered in glory” as was evident from the bantustan mess that the ANC government now had to resolve.

It is not likely that Mr Mufamadi would have made these remarks if they had not been cleared with the President and one can therefore conclude that, for the time being at least, in the national assembly and outside it will be “war as usual”.

Correctly, the ANC will have looked at the election results at both national and provincial level – specifically in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – and have concluded that neither the DA nor the IFP, that are currently at one another’s throats over the status of official opposition in KwaZulu-Natal, pose much of an electoral threat.

The DA fell woefully short of its much-publicised boast of winning some 30 per cent of the vote with its IFP ally, and the party itself won less than 13 per cent -– way down on the 22 per cent it took in local government elections in 2000, albeit in tandem with the NNP.

Even with 50 seats and as the second largest party in the national assembly, it cannot with any credibility refer to itself as an alternative government any more than the NNP can describe itself as a significant political player.

While the ANC’s rejection of the DA’s overtures may have been “brutal”, the DA may actually come to welcome it, as the electorate has demonstrated the it does not like or does not understand parties that co-operate with the ANC but nevertheless lay claim to being in opposition.

The Freedom Front under Constand Viljoen suffered badly at the polls in 1999 as a result of its pursuit of the politics of constructive engagement, and the NNP’s cosy relationship with the ANC has also been soundly rejected, although NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk’s political gymnastics will no doubt have contributed to that party’s demise.

While Mr Leon may have been able to dance his way through such a political minefield, as he did when he spoke in the state of the nation debate, it is unlikely that too many DA MPs would have been able to do so or that the electorate would have understood.

Co-operation is all too easily seen as co-option.

Equally, however, April’s election results show that voters neither want the “fight back” approach, nor even a slogan as relatively negative as “South Africa deserves better”, and finding the right tone ahead of next year’s local government elections that captures the mood of the electorate is now the challenge.

Those elections will be held in some 18 months’ time and will provide a far better test for both the ANC and DA than the national elections, simply because voters are able to judge on a more personal level with regard to whether government policies are really benefiting them.

It is delivery of a “better life for all” that is on the ballot paper and the record of local councillors.

It is clearly with that in mind that President Mbeki spelled out a long list of what would be delivered over what period – an approach that has and will be echoed around the country as the nine provincial premiers deliver their state of the province addresses.

While one cannot deny the progress that has been made and the fact that the extent of the challenge was far greater than the ANC could have imagined when it assumed power in 1994, the harsh reality is that millions still live in shacks and informal settlements or are without clean water or sanitation or are unemployed with little or no prospect of a job.

Certainly there are solid historical reasons for this that one should not forget.

But at the same time at a local government level, where people see their public representatives shirking their responsibilities and living comfortably while making scant effort to improve the lives of those who elected them, it will be all too easy to forget those historical realities.

Not that such people will necessarily vote for an opposition party – but they will stay away.

And, the historical realities accepted, people are increasingly asking when the Eastern Cape government will finally resolve the problems that have beset the department of education from inception.

At one of Premier Nosimo Balindlela’s 4am meetings recently, senior representatives from education acknowledged that the department remained in shambles in some areas, despite the fact that the matriculation pass rate has improved.

One does not envy MEC Mkangeli Matomela when he travels to Cape Town next week, along with his fellow MECs, to meet national minister Naledi Pandor, who wants them to spell out their plans.

Ms Pandor has made it all too clear that she expects improvement across a wide front, specifically mentioning in her briefing on Friday that this does not only mean capital expenditure.

In other words, arriving with a list of schools that have been built or renovated is not going to be good enough.

Education was also singled out when Cabinet discussed the Interim Management Team (IMT) report last Wednesday as an area that still requires attention.

The ANC is well aware that the real challenge lies with local government elections, while the DA will know that they also provide it with the opportunity to get back on the growth path after April’s rather dismal showing.

On that score, it will come as no surprise if the President and other senior ANC members are involved in constant interventions at a local government level over the next 18 months, and public representatives found wanting will be quickly axed and replaced.

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