South Africa- End of the One Party State?

[blue33]

Cape Town has broken the mold of South African politics by voting against the ANC!

Helen Zille, a white female member of the DA, has become the mayor of the Cape, the only city in the country not controlled by the ANC.

South Africa has bothered me for a while with the complete dominance of the ANC, i'm extremly glad to finally see another party get its hands on power.

The election of a white mayor is also great to see, maybe SA can be a rainbow nation after all.

But can democracy survive in a country which is completly dominated by one party? the ANC regularly geys upwards of 60% of the vote and holds power in all regions of the country. Can it truly remain a democracy if it is in effect a one party state?

[ON THE ONE ROAD]

as long as the constitution is up held. yes

[DSCH]

Cape Town has broken the mold of South African politics by voting against the ANC!

Helen Zille, a white female member of the DA, has become the mayor of the Cape, the only city in the country not controlled by the ANC.

South Africa has bothered me for a while with the complete dominance of the ANC, i'm extremly glad to finally see another party get its hands on power.

The election of a white mayor is also great to see, maybe SA can be a rainbow nation after all.

But can democracy survive in a country which is completly dominated by one party? the ANC regularly geys upwards of 60% of the vote and holds power in all regions of the country. Can it truly remain a democracy if it is in effect a one party state?

The whites should be (and indeed are) grateful that they haven't all been murdered in their beds, given the appallingly unjust nature of the Apartheid regime.

[JCSkinner]

Since the merger of the National Party into the ANC, there have been serious concerns for the future of democracy in South Africa. Thankfully, those concerns are beginning to prove unnecessary as the country slowly grows into a mature democracy.
I congratulate the new mayor of Cape Town, a wonderful city I have had the privelege of visiting a number of times, and look forward to the day when the ANC cleanly and safely splits into the constituent parts that need no longer cleave to each other in order to bring about democracy, but must now separate to offer the people options within a functioning democracy.

[rockofcashel]

you might want to look back over your knowledge of South Africa Blue, because the ANC, even since full democratisation in 1994, have not always controlled Cape Town or the region that its in.

The Cape Area is a "coloured" area, as distinct from a "black" area, and the distinction amongst the locals is very clear, even if it ay confuse those from outside SA.

As for fearing the dominance of one party rule, if the white rulers had allowed black voters to participate in the democratic control of South Africa, integrating them into parties based on policy rather than colour, then the situation might have been different.

[sarsfield]

Didn't the ANC always fail to win in the Western Cape? (ie cape town!) so no surprise they lost it again..........

So whats ur point?

As to the ANC long may they reign............

[JCSkinner]

As for fearing the dominance of one party rule, if the white rulers had allowed black voters to participate in the democratic control of South Africa, integrating them into parties based on policy rather than colour, then the situation might have been different.

Erm, they did and the scenario you described didn't happen and hasn't for well over a decade following.

[rockofcashel]

As for fearing the dominance of one party rule, if the white rulers had allowed black voters to participate in the democratic control of South Africa, integrating them into parties based on policy rather than colour, then the situation might have been different.

Erm, they did and the scenario you described didn't happen and hasn't for well over a decade following.

no JC, beacause by the time it did happen, the black party, the ANC, had almost overwhelming support of black voters, and didn't need the white minority anymore. The integration should have begun much earlier, like say, 50-100 years ago.

[Rocky]

This is a step in the right direction, but until there is a proper hand over of power and maybe another one after that we can't say they've made it yet. It would be better if South African was decided on social or economically cleavages instead of race as well. It's moving in the right direction and it is of course better then it was 20 years ago, but it still has a long way to go, till it can be called a proper liberal democracy

[JCSkinner]

As for fearing the dominance of one party rule, if the white rulers had allowed black voters to participate in the democratic control of South Africa, integrating them into parties based on policy rather than colour, then the situation might have been different.

Erm, they did and the scenario you described didn't happen and hasn't for well over a decade following.

no JC, beacause by the time it did happen, the black party, the ANC, had almost overwhelming support of black voters, and didn't need the white minority anymore. The integration should have begun much earlier, like say, 50-100 years ago.

Hold yer horses. You said that if the white rulers had allowed black voters to participate, then parties based on policy rather than colour would have developed.
I pointed out that this didn't happen, and you now say that it would have happened 50 or 100 years ago if apartheid had effectively ended before it began?
Well, I'm in no mood to play counterhistory. The history is that of further consolidation of a one party state post-liberation, with the National Party submerging into the ANC. Now, that does make the ANC, and indeed virtually all other SA parties, multiracial parties, but parties based on policy? Can you point to any?