The era of coalitions is upon us. Like a wave in the ocean, it too will ebb and flow and a new wave will beckon. The question is: What will the new wave be? When and from whence will it come?
Those with the minds equipped to discern political trends would attest that a realignment of our politics is under way, and it will fully manifest not in 2029, but in 2034.
The political currents of coalition governments are bridges into the future where the people of South Africa will once again give one party an overwhelming majority to govern.
This will be a future in which the sentiment of liberation will be too stale to use in political campaigning. Invoking the spirits of this or that hero of the Struggle will be out of fashion.
Then, people will vote based on the quality of the leaders, on how realistic their proposed reforms and promises are. Then, howling gigantic curses at former oppressors will no longer sell.
The year 2034 will be an opportune moment for the realignment because it will be a decade since the first national coalition government.
A decade is long enough for political parties to merge, for smaller parties to be co-opted, assimilated or wither into oblivion. It is also enough time for citizens to evaluate their fortunes in the context of unstable coalition governments.
The party of the future
If the answer to the question “When?” is 2034, the next obvious one is: “From whence will this change come?” In other words, which party is likely to emerge as the party of the future?
To be brutally honest, South Africa is suffocating under a “dictatorship of no alternatives”, to borrow a phrase from Roberto Unger. The existing parties have failed to provide an alternative to the ANC, even as the ANC continues to flounder. They are too factionalised, too narrow minded, too rotten, and some are simply the fiefdoms of their founders.
To be clear, the wave of change will not come from the current political parties. Thus, it is important to imagine the future of South Africa outside the confines of the existing parties and current leaders.
After all, some of the leaders of existing parties will be ancestors by 2034, buried with their parties.
The alternative, therefore, rests among the men and women of honour, the professionals currently out of mainstream politics but holding strategic positions and/or wielding influence in different sectors of our society. But it will require some balls.
Thus, at this moment I invite you, dear reader, to join me in a mental excursion into 2034 to imagine the possibilities of a viable political alternative.
It is Tuesday, 1 November 2033, and an election date has been announced for Thursday, 27 April 2034. At this stage, imagine that our electoral law has been changed and people are looking forward to South Africa’s first presidential election.
The ANC is, at this time, led by Fikile Mbalula who is 63 years old. The ANC is no longer a leader of society, but an enemy of the people. Ordinary people are too ashamed to wear ANC T-shirts for fear of being mistaken for thieves.
Lily-white
Meanwhile the DA has regressed from a centre liberal party to a conservative one. It has become lily-white and is where Constand Viljoen’s Conservative Party was in 1994, fighting for the preservation of the rights of minorities. At its helm is Geordin Hill-Lewis, who is 48 years of age.
The glue that held the MK party together — Jacob Zuma — is 92 years old. He is frail, senile and too weak to keep cohesion of the party. Zuma’s family feuds are rife and affecting the running of the party.
Julius Malema, at the age of 53, is still Commander-in-Chief of the EFF. He maintained his hold of the party while in jail after he was found guilty of discharging a rifle in public. At this time, Malema is our modern-day Bantu Holomisa and the EFF has been reduced to a regional party only popular in Seshego.
The IFP refuses to die and continues to enjoy the exploits of Zulu tribalism and nationalism in KwaZulu-Natal. Mkhuleko Hlengwa, who is 47 years old, is still considered too young to take over the reins of the mother body.
Meanwhile Herman Mashaba has since resigned from active politics and handed ActionSA to his trusted lackey, Michael Beaumont, who is 49 years of age. Beaumont, after chasing all black leaders away from ActionSA, has decided to merge the party with the Freedom Front Plus in order to secure a leadership role for himself.
The Patriotic Alliance is under the leadership of Kenny Kunene (64) and has co-opted Operation Dudula to be their Anti-Foreign wing and they are causing chaos in public facilities.
Out on parole after he was found guilty of VBS-related corruption, Floyd Shivambu, who is 51, is counting five parties he established and deserted, and has completed yet another round of national consultations for his sixth political adventure.
Mmusi Maimane, Patricia de Lille and Songezo Zibi have been forced by their mutual funders to merge into one party, but they are quibbling over who should be the leader of the merged party.
Overwhelmed by despair
With this disquieting state of our politics, people are desperately looking for an alternative. Disillusioned by this sorry state, overwhelmed by a sense of despair, citizens are yearning for something to rekindle their hopes for a better future.
However, just a month before the election date was announced, something spectacular happened. A group of highly educated and successful professionals announced their decision to enter the political fray. They set up a new political outfit ready to contest the 2034 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The name of their new party is SA Future and it is the only good news to have come about in the entire year.
Dear reader, imagine that Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi at the age of 58 is a presidential candidate of this new party, and Busi Mavuso, 57, is Ngcukaitobi’s running mate for deputy president.
Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who is 49 years of age, is the secretary-general of the new party, while Lindiwe Mazibuko at 54 is the treasurer-general.
Pieter Kriel has turned 30 and he is the leader of the youth desk. Together with other young people they are galvanising youth support across racial lines.
Advocate Kevin Smith at 43, and Vusi Thembekwayo, 49, have also announced that they are joining the new party and are calling upon others to join.
Lukhona Mnguni, in his late 40s, has since left the Rivonia Circle and is part of the brains trust of the new initiative, drafting policies and helping to shape the intellectual and ideological posture of the party.
As in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, they need a Cicero — some silver lining — to give their initiative some heft. Now imagine that Bonang Mohale at 73 is that person, and he endorses the new party. He has issued a public appeal to philanthropies to give favours to the new initiative.
With this imagined party of the future, would you, dear reader, stay at home and fold your arms, or will you be goaded into action to contribute to reshaping the future of South Africa?
I write all of this, dear reader, to demonstrate that South Africa does not have a shortage of credible, talented and exceptional people who can shape our political future.
The brutal truth is that the current political landscape has become dangerously infested by thugs, and left for them to take over while the honest and credible are too timid to enter the fray.
Gatekeepers
Our political landscape discourages career professionals from venturing into politics. Parties are dominated by gatekeepers who would rather have the party lose support than let a fresh and promising newcomer take over and give new direction to it.
The big egos of party leaders are the reason we have a deeply fragmented body politic with too many small parties that can hardly differentiate themselves from one another.
You, dear reader, are perhaps the person whom South Africa needs to bring change in our political space. Remember former US president John Adams’ sobering message in a letter to his son: “Public business, my son, must always be done by somebody — it will be done by somebody or other. If wise men decline it others will not: if honest men refuse it, others will not.”
This is a challenge directed at you, dear reader, and to all people who think politics is not their business.
Otherwise, you must be prepared to live with the consequence that Plato so vividly illustrated: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
The future of South Africa rests neither in the existing political parties nor the current political leaders. It rests with professional people who have established careers outside of politics entering the political fray.
As the turbulence of coalitions ebbs and flows, the future of a South Africa led by educated professionals is beckoning. That future rests with you, dear reader! DM