Growing up

It seems that all our state institutions in South Africa are being tested at the moment. They're all in crisis or under attack -- from the Human Rights Commission, to the Judiciary, to the national broadcaster. It's the toughest test our teenaged democracy has had.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is in turmoil, as the board, CEO and Parliament fight for control. In the meantime, civil society organisations are getting behind a campaign to transform the public (state?) broadcaster -- yet again.

The judiciary is under attack. Last week the ANC's secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, lashed out at the Constitutional Court judges accusing them of being counter-revolutionary forces bent on destroying Jacob Zuma and the ANC. All this because the judges, all of them highly respected, accused a fellow judge, John Hlophe, of trying to influence them to rule in favour of Zuma in a case that's before them -- a case that's crucial to Zuma's maybe-one-day trial on charges of corruption.

The director of public prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli is still under suspension, and fighting his case in front of the Ginwala Commission, which was establshed to determine whether he is fit to hold office.

The Human Rights Commission has come under attack for daring to threaten to take ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema to court, after his own speech threatening to kill for Jacob Zuma.

All of these institutions are crucial pillars of democracy, and each has its place in acting as an independent check on power. That they're all under siege or in turmoil, does not bode well. And what makes it more worrying is that almost all of it (with the possible exception of Vusi PIkoli's case) is linked in some way to the change in leadership in the ANC. Jacob Zuma and his supporters are trying to wrest control of key institutions from those who are perceived to be hostile to him -- whether because they're supporters of Thabo Mbeki, or because they're independent.

It's tempting to throw up one's hands in despair. But that would be even more dangerous. What did we think... that maintaining a strong democracy would be easy? That the coming of democracy and the swearing-in of Nelson Mandela in 1994 heralded the creation of a brand new shining rainbow nation, and we'd all live happily ever-after with the liberation movement turned government, the ANC, our benign guardian and deliverer of all things good?

That's the kind of thinking that got us into this mess in the first place. It's also the kind of thinking that leads to dangerous talk such as Mantashe's denunciation of the constitutional court judges as counter-revolutionary forces. It's all-or-nothing thinking. The kind of thinking that believes we're either the Rainbow Nation or we're dirt.  The kind of thinking that believes the revolution represents the imminent arrival of justice and peace and housing for all. Since that didn't happen in South Africa, instead of realising that such ideals are just that -- ideals, worth striving for but impossible to achieve -- there are many who believe the revolution must still take place. It's the kind of thinking that pins all hope on individual leaders, who are lauded as saviours, until they (inevitably) fail, after which they're demonised as evil.

We all need to grow up. The supporters of Zuma, who remain fanatically behind him, despite all the evidence that he's corrupt. Mbeki and his supporters, who just pretend nothing bad exists (no Aids, no xenophobia, and no crisis in Zimbabwe. And the rest of us manic-depressives who believe South Africa is the chosen nation when we win the rugby world cup, but hit the depths of despair when the load shedding or attacks on the judiciary start. We all need to get real and realise there is no saviour, no great leader come to rescue us. There is no rainbow nation, no utopia. There's just a deeply scarred country, full of people of every kind and shape. And somehow, we have to just get stuck in and work to defend and build and shore up our democracy, day after day after day.