Superstition Rules in South Africa's Democracy
South Africa's democracy is alive with superstition. President Jacob Zuma is adept at using it to manipulate the vulnerable and to maintain power for the African National Congress, the ruling party in the country.
At a recruitment campaign in the town of Komatipoort, the President addressed a large group of people mainly from poor communities in the surrounding rural areas. He said that any member of the ANC who dared to leave the Party would be dealt with by "the ancestors" and "will get sick." He also referred to the breakaway party, Cope, as being racked by division and made sick by the ancestors. "Such groups," he said, "would never be able to exist outside the ANC, they will die. The ANC will exist forever. If you try to harm the party, the ancestors will expose you."
It's hard to believe that in a modern democracy the head of state can stoop to such absurdities in seeking to gain influence and to hold on to power. It's living proof that just beneath the veneer of South Africa's democracy is a thick tribalistic layer with its tight sense of tribe and hierarchy, magic, blessings and curses.
Numerous commentators feel that this underlying tribalism, if it is invoked and exploited, has the capacity to swallow up the country's vulnerable and nascent democracy. Sadly, this has often been the case in Africa, and when President Zuma speaks in this way, he is certainly not the friend and custodian of democracy in Africa.
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