The weakness in the ANC leaders is manifesting in their need to impress with blue lights and huge entourages. It is worrying, because it is a clear sign of the tyranny you speak of. And it is the path to Zimbabwe.

I wonder if these perspectives might help.

Among countless others, Churchill said something along the lines that democracy is a very imperfect form of govt., but much the best when you consider the alternatives.

The view has much truth in it, but do not stop there. Ask yourself whether southern Africa at this time has ‘democracy’. ‘Democracy’ hasn’t arrived, you know, just because the ANC, or Zanu-PF, or ‘independent’ analysts, or bloggers, keep taking for granted that it has, or because we all keep using the word.

You question how much support Zanu-PF has. But a straight look at the facts shows it is irrelevant how much support Zanu-PF has. Zimbabwe is not a democracy. It is a tyranny.

Back home, the opposing view says that what SA got between 1990-4 was not ‘democracy’, but a possible first step towards it: emancipation – liberty. Just as there are different forms of ‘democracy’, so there are different stages of it, steps on a journey. Things may have far to go before SA acquires ‘democracy’ to a standard that satisfies your hopes of it.

That is the point. ‘Democracy’ isn’t a once-and-for-all gift that the ANC (or anyone else) kindly bestows on ‘the people’. It is a culture – literally, a way of life – that grows slowly out of people’s lived experience.

The vital feature of that culture is not only a moral or spiritual quality ‘the people’ develop, say, a longing for freedom, but also institutional.

The ANC has in many ways weakened the institutional structure of SA’s bright new republic, especially in recent years, when the growing split in the party made both ‘sides’ panic at the prospect of losing the old certainty of power.

There is one very simple reason for this, which almost everyone even now shuns talking about. Through all the years so far, the most important institutional feature of ‘democracy’ has been missing: namely, real opposition – the chance of the people changing their govt. if they choose to. Opposition is the first blow to what all of us have most to fear – an otherwise blind loyalty.

Let us see if we are over, or st least approaching the end of, that stage. But even then, remember no one’s ever achieved ‘democracy’ in the sense of a final achievement, because ‘democracy’ is a permanent work in progress.

There is no perfect state of human affairs; only tyrannies claim to offer paradise on earth.

Democracy is forever just trying to get there.

I had always thought that education was the key – teach people to expect more and question what goes on around them. But then I watch educated people like Michael Trapido picking apart just about every single aspect of the ANC goverment, and yet his loyalty to them is unaffected, he will apparently vote for them no matter what.

Funny that people don’t expect the same loyalty when it comes to marriage – an institution where a promise of loyalty is extracted under oath. In a country with one of the higest divorce rates in the world, it is astonishing that nothing will make our citizens see that loyalty to a government who has failed in just about every aspect is misplaced.

I lived the first half of my life under a hated Nat government, now it seems that I will be forced to live the second half under an inept and greedy one. I will never be able to be proud of what they do, and I see the possiblities of where they are going in the example of Zimbabwe.

It would be interesting to see exactly how many supporters Zanu-PF actually has. I’ve often wondered. They talk about nearly 50% voting for him, but with all the vote rigging, coersion and bribery, I wonder how many truly believe in them? I used to think the only people who did were either Mugabe and his cronies, or those who gain financially. And then we get people like Tafi and others, and my belief in humanity takes yet another knock.

Make no mistake, I share your feelings.

What seems important to understand though is that while it is impossible by now to think of any grounds on which to support Zanu-PF – democratic grounds or grounds of social justice; good governance, hope for a better future or just basic ‘efficiency’; even common humanity and mercy – yet people do support Zanu-PF.

The most frequently heard explanation is that Mugabe is ‘standing up against the west’. But this flies in the face of reason itself when it is one’s own people who are suffering because of the gentleman’s ‘courage’.

Not even fear explains it, because many of Mugabe’s opponents have overcome fear of him.

So it leaves only loyalty. A bit like supporting your soccer team no matter how often it loses – but of course, horribly worse.

The question is, How do you change that?

But for me there are some things that are indefensible, like someone trying to justify Hitler’s extermination of the Jews. For me, Mugabe’s treatment of his own people falls into this catagory.

It’s also the concept of ‘having one’s cake and eating it’ that I object to. To demand the right to make a mess of your own country while at the same time expecting others to bail you out, and blaming everyone else for that mess is just not acceptable to me.

If it is not there, then it has not yet been approved – or struck out.

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/traps/2008/12/27/wrong-mr-mantashe-invasion-of-zimbabwe-is-unnecessary/#comment-65540

There are different people and different views and different loyalties in the world – that is the answer to your question.

If you do give us a blog on Zim, Rod, it would be interesting to consider a)what can be done in Zim?; b) what is the ‘right’ thing to do (if that is different)?; and c) what are the implications for policy and ‘democracy’ when there is no general agreement on what to do?

Every commentator always assumes that it is ‘obvious’ what to do about Zim. Visibly, it is not.

Now, imagine you were SA president … what would you do?

Also, Anne, it is often useful to argue points with people of different opinions, like Tafi, if only to get straight your own ideas and beliefs by understanding others’.

In this connection perhaps you’ll notice that Tafi has not replied to my last post to him.