Just lighten up a little

Mar 1st 2007
Culled From The Economist print edition

The country is doing well. It would do better if there were more criticism and an opposition

 

THIRTEEN years after the system of apartheid gave way to a freely elected black-majority government, South Africa is on the whole doing pretty well. It is by far the beefiest country in Africa . By some calculations, its GDP is almost as big as the rest of sub-Saharan Africa's other 47 countries put together, and has been swelling steadily since the African National Congress (ANC) took the reins of government in 1994.

Moreover, it has been providing a good example of democracy and steadiness in a continent where tyranny and bloodshed are still tragically common. South Africa has contributed admirably to the cause of peace in Africa 's bleaker reaches, helping to negotiate agreements to quell civil strife and bolster democracy. The main blot on this worthy record is President Thabo Mbeki's continuing failure, born of a misguided sense of racial and comradely solidarity, to use his authority to help remove the despotic Robert Mugabe from power in neighbouring Zimbabwe .

Much of the credit for the successes must go to the first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela, whose grace and magnanimity let white rule end without reprisals or the ruinous flight of whites. But Mr Mbeki played a part too, especially in ditching a Marxist economic model which the ANC had promoted during its long decades in the liberation wilderness. And Mr Mbeki has undertaken what sounds like a personal mission to redeem the rest of Africa by spreading the word of good governance and liberal economics. So why has a note of sourness crept in (see article)?

The black man's burden

One reason is that the economic job ahead is still so daunting. Although many millions more South Africans now have directly supplied electricity, free or cheap water and decent brick houses, a good half still live in dire poverty; at least a quarter—40%, by some definitions—have no jobs. The growth of a small but highly visible black middle class stirs resentment among the poor. Though some types of crime have dipped, others are rife: more than 18,000 people were murdered last year, one of the highest rates in the world. Even more devastating is the plague of HIV/AIDS, which has struck some 5.5m South Africans and shows little sign of abating.

Weighed down by apartheid's legacy, the government cannot be blamed for the onset of these afflictions. But its responses have been patchy and prickly. Its policy of “black economic empowerment” and a raft of affirmative actions to put more of the economy into black hands have created a swathe of public-sector jobs and a new culture of patronage. This may have been politically necessary but in the long run could slow economic growth, which is what will pull the poorest out of their pit and reduce crime. Mr Mbeki's response to the AIDS catastrophe has been lamentable. He now seems to accept a link between HIV and AIDS and his government is belatedly rolling out a huge anti-retroviral programme, but he still seems loth to promote it properly.

The biggest worry for the future, however, is that a mature multi-party democracy has yet to evolve. The ANC faces no serious electoral danger from the feeble opposition parties; the punchiest is dismissed by black voters as a relic of the white-minority past. Despite this, ANC politicians seldom take criticism in good part. Too often they impute racism to those who disagree. It is all the more vital, as the ANC sets about choosing a new party leader by the end of the year who will almost certainly become president when the ANC-dominated Parliament chooses one in 2009, that it resists the populist temptation to turn its back on tolerance and moderation. Its worst choice would be Jacob Zuma, a former vice-president whose acquittal on a rape charge and lingering accusations of fraud in no way make him a suitable candidate for Africa 's top job.

One day the ANC will face a stronger opposition, perhaps from within: the party may then split. The best legacy Mr Mbeki can leave, for South Africa and the wider continent, is a willing acceptance that the ANC is not pre-ordained to rule forever and that a robust opposition is entirely desirable.