AS happens on the rare occasion, I was sitting quietly in a corner of the local pub and grill, sampling the art of the brewmaster. Luke the Dude would have none of this peace and tranquillity. “Democracy is broken,” he announced.
Struggling to swallow his gulp of beer, Big Ben denounced sputteringly, “That is preposterous!”
“Non-non, Monsieur, not so quickly to rev the mouth while the brain is idling,” admonished Jean-Jay. “Your Monsieur Churchill, he who never surrendered, that one, he agreed.”
“Quite so,” nodded The Prof, “Churchill was fully cognisant of the flaws of democracy. In fact, he said it was the worst form of government – except for all the others.”
“But we have the best Constitution in the world!” insisted Big Ben, determined to hold his ground against all comers.
“That may well be true,” consoled Stevie the Legal Poet, “but that is no guarantee of a perfect democracy. In fact, the Constitution itself is under attack. The Malema troublemakers and ANC counter-reconciliationists like Minister Camo Model Lindiwe Sisulu are insisting that it is broken.”
“I am talking about more than the Constitution,” countered Luke the Dude. “I am talking about democracy. Won’t you do me a favour, Prof, and describe democracy for the enlightenment of the people congregated here?”
“It’s a system,” interrupted Bob the Book uninvited, “where the people decide who governs them. Each constituency elects a leader to represent them in a council where laws are made and a government is formed to get things done.”
“Useless!” laughed Jon the Joker, “what can go wrong?”
“You see what I mean?” asked Luke the Dude.
Irene the Queen raised her eyebrows: “No, I don’t,” she questioned, “what on earth is wrong with that?”
“Not being a mind reader and all,” reminded Colin the Golfer.
“The thing is broken!” spat Luke the Dude. “The people get to choose who governs them? Doesn’t happen here, does it? We don’t even know the cadre deployed to represent our own constituency.”
“What are you talking about?” fidgeted Big Ben, “it’s your own fault if you take no interest!”
“Okay,” grinned Luke the Dude deviously. “Pray tell me, big man, who is our MP? Your personal representative in parliament? Surname will do.”
Silence.
“Oops,” said Colin the Golfer.
“Okay, let’s be fair to Ben,” advocated Stevie the Poet, “Does anyone else here know the name of our MP? Also called ‘Constituency Head’?”
We did not. Except maybe for Bill the Beard, the well-known intellectual and electrician: “We do now,” informed he, “since he has been suspended by the DA under a cloud about his travel expenses.” But even The Beard could not recall his name.
“See what I mean,” confirmed Luke the Dude, “we don’t know who they are because we did not vote for them. We voted for a political party, didn’t we? So, we don’t get to decide who represents us, the political party does. For the ANC it’s factionalists or kinsmen or buddies. Lovers sometimes. How democratic is that?”
“It does not have to be like this,” advised Stevie the Poet. “In fact, in 2003 Cabinet appointed a team of experts led by Dr Van Zyl Slabbert to investigate electoral reform. They produced excellent recommendations which the ANC buried. The government also steadfastly ignored Dr Slabbert after that.”
“But why,” enquired Irene the Queen incredulously. “Didn’t the ANC ask for the investigation? Why would they pretend it didn’t happen?”
“The answer is evident,” elucidated Stevie. “The leadership cabal had by then realised the flawed system is exactly what they want. They have all the power to do as they like with their majority. Inevitably, loyalty to the people is replaced with loyalty to the party and its hand-outs. Innocentius Zuma and Co said so quite openly: the ANC comes before South Africa.”
“Congratulations Counsellor!” applauded Luke the Dude, “I rest my case. Democracy is broken.”
“In fairness, the Constitutional Court ruled, two years ago, that Parliament had two years for amending the Electoral Act to allow independent candidates in provincial and national elections,” added Stevie. “But … Parliament is bungling this job so badly that nothing will change by the 2024 general election.”
“But what about other countries,” asked Irene the Queen, loath to believe the obvious. “America, for instance. They get to vote directly for the president, representatives and senators, don’t they?”
“America?” grinned Luke the Dude, happy to continue his argument. “Sure, they vote individually for the president. But what happened in 2016? Hillary Clinton got about three million more people’s votes, yet Donald Trump was democratically elected. Blame the system.
“For once Trump was right, the election was ‘rigged’ – in his favour.
“Also, today nobody doubts that the Russians connived for a Trump win in 2016. After all, Trump openly invited them to find Clinton’s emails and they obliged the next day. They interfered again in 2020. And Trump? In 2018 he stood on a podium in Helsinki and chose Putin’s ‘very strong’ denial above the factual findings of America’s security agencies.
“Say he did have a hold on Trump, what would Putin want him to do? Firstly, fire the director of the FBI and slander him. Remember that a day after James Comey was fired, a Russian delegation visited Trump in the Oval Office. Russian news pictures showed them having a jolly good laugh. No American journalists were allowed.
“Later, fire the deputy director of the FBI a day before retirement and slander him. Destroy public confidence in the FBI by constantly raising unsubstantiated suspicions and accusations. Factionalise America. Undermine America’s global standing by reneging on international agreements, including on climate, Iran and the World Health Organisation. Use tariffs to alienate the US from trade partners and friends. Weaken Nato.
“Out of office, he’s still at it full-time, sowing mistrust in America’s democratic system and stoking virulent division – American against American.
“That’s how broken democracy is there.”
“I don’t agree,” fumed Big Ben. “You’re imagining things!”
“Believe what you wish,” said Luke. “But look who’s smiling here: Surprise, surprise, it’s Vladimir!”
