The Political Take, from a Student's Perspective

As a student interested in politics, I was excited at the prospect of attending a sitting of the provincial legislature a few weeks ago. I had no particular expectations, but merely looked forward to watching the deliberations of the most powerful lawmaking body in the province.

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed with what I witnessed that Wednesday. While I acknowledge that one cannot base an informed opinion on the effectiveness of an institution merely by attending a single sitting, the style of the debates on key provincial issues did not leave a positive impression.

Disparaging personal comments were traded between the DA, ANC and ID benches, and intemperate and insulting language seemed to be the order of the day with the sitting becoming rowdy on occasion, detracting from substantive debate on key policy issues and casting doubt on the suitability of some members to call themselves legislators. It was like being at a House of Commons session where uncivil behaviour is condoned and expected.

These local politicians seemed to have no qualms about demeaning the seats they occupied on that day through their uncivil discourse, or their apparent lack of interest in the task they were elected to perform, which is, surely, serving the interests of the people of the Western Cape.

Being a student at the University of Cape Town, I was reminded of Student Assembly sittings; though the setting was different, the theme was much the same. I have, over the years, become accustomed to watching disputes between the DA's youth division (DASO) and SASCO (South African Students Congress) devolve into vitriolic, personal attacks.

It seems that politics in South Africa is about getting into power and then doing your best to show up your political opponents with the maximum exposure in the media.

Campaigning in 2009 revealed traces of this mentality as parties pretended to engage questions of policy usually by attacking their political counterparts' failures. The DA was and is a repeat offender in this department. Want to know DA policy? That would be the opposite of whatever the ANC has done or proposed - and don't forget to mention cadre-deployment and corruption a few hundred times.

It would be hard to discuss politics from a youth perspective without mentioning the incomparable Julius Malema.

He is a character steeped in controversy and often good for a sound bite or ten. He is the darling of the media because he cannot stop himself from saying silly things.
Yet, having attended a rally addressed by him once, I can understand his attraction to a part of the base of the ANC.

While it is true that he plays the race card and probably believes a lot of the nonsense he spews, it is equally true that he expresses what most black people think in this country. This is symptomatic of a people who still feel like outsiders in their own country due to an intolerable disparity in socio-economic rewards.

Like it or not, race is still a big issue in South Africa and will continue to be so for years to come until greater equality between races is achieved. I do not profess to be an expert on transformation, BEE or Affirmative Action but there is no doubt that they are necessary policies to level a playing field that for many years was unfairly tipped. There are continued debates to be had about the precise means of implementing these policies and their effectiveness, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are relevant and necessary.

An indication that race is still a tetchy issue at a student level is the acrimonious debate over UCT's plan to change its mission statement, a plan that rubbed many a student the wrong way and caused a fair amount of controversy on campus.

From a student perspective there is little appeal in becoming more active politically when the nature of debate in the political sphere is so uncivil and tainted by attacks on character.

It is true that compared to other countries, South African politics are clean and relatively cordial but more can be done to encourage participation of the youth. For if the leaders of tomorrow do not feel obliged to get involved with the task of governing and taking up the struggle of the disinherited and disenfranchised, then what hope can we have for the future?

Politics has been classified as one of the “dirtiest professions in the world”, along with law. I disagree. It needn’t be like that. Politics in its original sense is one of the noblest professions and has nothing to do with self interest, greed or point-scoring in the media. Politics is about improving the lives of people - but, somehow, that has been lost in the stampede to achieve personal ascendancy.

As long as the public perception that politics is filled with corrupt, self-obsessed individuals persists, confidence in politicians and politics will remain low and the goal of achieving a better life for all will remain elusive.

Although parties have different philosophies and beliefs, there must be a more congenial, respectful tone to debate to replace the rowdy discord which has become commonplace in South African politics.

For, as Winston Churchill once said, “if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we will be in danger of losing the future.”


Written by Tatenda Goredema

Tatenda Goredema is the Deputy Editor of Varsity Newspaper