South Africa: Reflections On a New Activism to Challenge a State Comprador Elite

analysis

The recognition of the need for a new activism was accompanied by a realisation that while it was necessary, it was not a sufficient condition for entrenching a new accountable and democratic politics. This new activism had to be accompanied by at least three developments - the establishment of a political and socio-economic agenda that addresses inequality in our society, out-of-the-box thinking and imaginative solutions to contemporary social challenges, and finding ways to manage the palpable anger that exists among our citizenry, especially among the young.

Last week I was invited to a gathering on the state of our democracy and what to do about it. Attended by activists from within the ANC and outside of it, struggle luminaries and veterans, new generation activists, civil society and business leaders, politicians, judges and civil servants, the gathering reflected an astounding level of consensus. Almost all recognised that South Africa was immersed in a multifaceted economic, political and social crisis in which trust had broken down between much of the citizenry and the state political elite. There was a recognition that the courts had played a valiant role in holding the state political elite to account, but that this was not sustainable...

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