MALAIKA MAHLATSI | My concern with Rise Mzansi and the many emerging political parties is the lack of creativity in their synthesis of the solutions to the country’s problems. Everyone seems to believe that the only way to change SA is to run for office.
And so, new political parties are continuously being formed. They offer no new insights or solutions – just the same diagnosis of the problems we all know about and the belief that they can do better than the hundreds of parties that already exist. The problem with this electoral-centric approach is that it has little appreciation of how real politics actually work, and it also doesn’t make allowance for the imagination of change that is rooted in a bottom-up approach.
It is possible to influence legislative outcomes through means such as mass mobilisation and organisation, as we saw with the fight for anti-retroviral treatment in the early 2000s, the Equal Education battle for the introduction of minimum standards in schools, the introduction of free education as a result of #FeesMustFall and many other critical interventions that have shaped government policy.
Furthermore, electoral politics, in reality, are fundamentally a game of numbers. Parties with less numbers have very little influence, particularly in parliament. Even in coalition governments in municipalities, their ability to make meaningful legislative contributions is very limited and subject to the buy-in of those parties that maintain plurality, in most cases, this being the ANC.
We need a new government. But we also need a strong popular movement that can guide change. I would have supported Rise Mzansi if it mobilised and facilitated progressive parties forming a coalition in government while it strengthened and united civil society outside. But as things stand, it’s just another party saying what every new party says. And I’m tired of them all.
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