Our Fragile Democracy

Is South Africa a democracy? Or are we merely playing at one?


At the moment we have a Constitution and the right to vote; we have freedom of movement, expression and association. The terror that was apartheid is a long-dead animal with no chance of resurrection… at least not in its old form.


I’m not sure if most in this country realise how fragile our freedoms are today. It is very easy for the ANC to tolerate an inconvenience such as voting when the margin between victory and loss is so wide.


We have already witnessed how ungracious they are in defeat.

In 2009, when the Democratic Alliance won the honour of governing the Western Cape, the MK veterans’ association threatened to make the province ungovernable, even though this victory was not through floor-crossing or any other kind of bureaucratic interference, and on Sunday Julius Malema, president of the ANCYL, told us in his inimitable vitriolic and nonsensical fashion that someone who “looked like” Helen Zille would never “rule” the Western Cape.

A telling remark that exposes the youth leader’s ideas about his position not being one of public service but “rule”.


Every day new incidents of corruption, mismanagement and unnecessary spending come to light through the hard and often dangerous work of investigative reporting across South Africa. This “negative” and “unpatriotic” reporting has caused such embarrassment to the alleged “leaders” that journalists suffer threats, are offered bribes and investigated by our National Intelligence Agency.

This “forced transparency” is so undesirable to our rulers that they will do anything to cover it up.


The proposed Protection of Information bill cannot be allowed to become a reality. The weak argument for the protection of “state secrets” is utter nonsense – we are not at war or under threat of invasion; our war is a war against tyranny; our greatest threat is incompetence and greed.


This bill will be nothing more than the legal gagging of journalists who are our first defence and our last hope against power-hungry politicians.

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” – Is this what they would have us believe?