It is very simplistic to argue that the post-election crisis in Kenya was caused by the “stealing” of the general election by the Party of National Unity (PNU). The allegations of a rigged election by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) simply sparked off economic, social, political and cultural grievances that had been swept under the carpet by the post-colonial regimes.

These grievances had been verbalized by various social groups in Kenya, including the Air Force that tried to overthrow the government of President Moi in 1982. Underground movements in the 1970s and 1980s had raised these grievances, and the leaders of those movements were detained, jailed or murdered. Radical members of parliament had raised these issues, and some of these members ended up assassinated. The so-called “Second Liberation” in the 1990s raised these grievances when that movement agitated for multi-partism. Those who came to power as a result of the second liberation quickly forgot these grievances and did nothing to address them. Since the 1990s very vibrant social movements from the civil society have consistently raised these grievances using the agitation of a new constitution as the entry-point to resolving these grievances. Yet again, the civil society agitation has always been resisted by the state with only token reforms being undertaken since the 1990s.

And we thought that our country would introduce a foreign affairs consistent with the values we fought for, embodied in our Constitution, the new dawn in human freedom and democracy on a continental scale, but no, we give succour to dictators who, as Winston Churchill once put it, ‘ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers’ it seems, ladies and gentlemen, ‘are getting hungry.’ (Letter, 11 November 1937). We have to change this thing.

As for our own Government, in Churchill's words again they ‘go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent’ (Hansard 12 November 1926, col.1107). The crisis of Zimbabwe reveals all too painfully the failing of our leaders, raises many profound and tragic questions, not least in respect of our country and what we think we are up to in the region. We have to change this thing too.

First of all, the crisis demands answers to why our country’s government does not make full and creative use of the extensive array of foreign policy instruments that are available to those who have the determination to use it. As in many other instances, we do not act on constitutional values nor carry out our own laws. We must as citizens rise above our individual selves and compel government to act in the national and not the President’s interests.

Economic Justice Initiative

Project Proposal

June 2008 – June 2010

Economic Justice and Nation-Building in South Africa

1. Motivation

The transition from apartheid to democracy from 1994 onward laid the basis for a new era in which all South Africans would be equal under a common Constitution. The first democratic government, under Nelson Mandela, was characterized by nation-building strategies of racial reconciliation, inclusion, reconstruction and development. The vision was to build a de-racialized, unified South African nation through the liberation of previously dispossessed people from political and economic oppression. The administration’s rhetoric espoused a South Africa that was home to all – Mandela himself often partook in public acts of reconciliation. “Rainbowism,” however, had its weaknesses. Whilst it focused strongly on the nation it ignored the imperative to build a social-democratic state as a priority. This led to an oversimplified public debate on nation building that failed to make connections between “culture and capital, identity and economics, and law and justice’ (Maharaj, in Maharaj, G 1999:7).

The African National Congress (ANC) that many South Africans knew and had voted for since 1994 has gone. In its place is a party in which “the moral compass has been thrown overboard” and that is now characterised by greed, corruption and inefficiency. This is according to Alex Boraine, former deputy chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Speaking this week in the latest in a series of “Difficult Dialogues” – a series of public discussions on controversial topics, supported by the Cape Argus – Boraine said he thought the time was ripe for a major realignment of South Africa’s political system.

“I am an optimist, let’s grab the moment,” he told the audience on Wednesday evening.

“This is such an exciting time to be alive in South Africa, because you don’t quite know what’s going to happen next”.

He suggested, just as he argued in a recently-published book, that a black-led initiative to consolidate popular support for a movement that vowed to respect the values of the country’s democratic Constitution, could have an immensely powerful appeal across racial, party, ethnic and provincial lines.

But unseating the ANC would be no mean feat.