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Give the ANC credit for our newly found ... SA students encounter reality of communi... Hard-core hip-hoppers send the wrong mes... |
Give the ANC credit for our newly found freedomsPARADOXICALLY, the furore over the ANC's attempt to delay the publication of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has probably done more for the credibility of both the TRC and Archbishop Desmond Tutu than the TRC managed to achieve in its entire lifetime. Critics of the TRC have often argued that, because it was a creation of the ANC, it would naturally be biased towards the ruling party. The events of the past two weeks have finally laid that ghost to rest. Despite all the media froth, there is nothing sinister in the fact that the ANC went to court to try to delay publication. They apparently missed the deadline for comment on the content of the report and, as they found some of the findings less than flattering, they were left with no alternative but legal action. With hindsight this probably wasn't a smart move from a public relations point of view because it has been widely interpreted that the ANC was trying to suppress information which could harm the party's image and possibly its election hopes. It is unfortunate that this led to an unseemly slanging match between Archbishop Tutu and ANC general secretary Kgalema Motlanthe - who rather paranoically hit out at the Arch and the media for "vilifying" the ANC. Motlanthe accuses Tutu of failing to distinguish between the ANC as a political party and the ANC in government. The archbishop has my sympathy because to me they look pretty much the same, and it is pure equivocation to suggest otherwise. That the ANC were too disorganised to get their objections in on time shouldn't surprise anybody. However, the fact that they then resorted to the courts to delay publication should be cause for celebration, not recrimination. Admittedly, I may have thought differently if they had won their case but, as things stand, democracy remains intact. The application was dismissed with costs and the ANC accepted the court's decision. This is an encouraging sign that we still have an independent judiciary. Many governments wouldn't even have bothered with legalities. They would simply have banned publication of the report and arranged for the authors to be psychologically evaluated for the next few years in a state asylum. We are able to read about all this in the newspapers, and this is also cause for celebration. In our rush to condemn the ANC for being tyrannical and intolerant of criticism, we are apt to forget that not very long ago South African newspapers could only print news passed and approved by the government censors. Of course, it may just be that the ANC haven't yet got around to controlling what the media are allowed to print and say but, until they do, we must give them the benefit of the doubt and presume they support a free press. Having said that, Archbishop Tutu's warnings in last week's Sunday Times are valid. He cautions that the "price of freedom is eternal vigilance and there is no way you can assume that yesterday's oppressed will not become tomorrow's oppressors". Members of the ANC government and particularly the President have stated repeatedly that they favour transparency in government, and are determined to root out corruption and adhere to a strict code of morals. Instead of snorting with disbelief, we should pay them the courtesy of believing them. If they stray from that path, though, and politicians are caught with their hands in the cookie jar or are suspected of awarding lucrative contracts to friends or family, then they mustn't be surprised when we wave those promises in their faces and demand action. I would be very surprised if I were ever to be voted the ANC's favourite columnist. Over the past five years the antics of the ruling party have provided plenty of material for this column and I am frequently asked whether I receive piles of hate mail as a result of such articles. The answer is that I do not. Apart from the sporadic and rather predictable accusations of racism, I am happy to say that most of the responses from ANC politicians have been civil, well-argued (albeit from a different ideological standpoint) and extremely good-natured - bearing in mind the often acerbic tone of the column. I am under no illusions that this would have been the case under previous South African governments, as evidence given to the TRC has confirmed. While it is essential, as Archbishop Tutu says, to guard our freedom jealously, it is equally important to take time to consider and appreciate the new freedoms we all enjoy under the ANC. Our politicians may not be angels, but neither are they demons.
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