WORLDVIEW: No Brazil moment, but pressure keeps building on SA’s demagogue

As the youthful new French President Emmanuel Macron has shown, old-style "isms" describing popular worldviews have been thrown in the dumpster. Macron's new party incorporated the best ideas of the political left and the right – and won unprecedented support from voters. This "radical middle" looks like the new way..Witnessing this is not the only reason why free enterprise supporters like myself have been taking a different approach towards South Africa's Communist Party. Even those who hate this particular "ism" cannot deny the crucial role being played by the SACP in exposing corruption that has mushroomed under the Zuma Administration..Veteran political journalist Donwald Pressly caught up with its deputy SG Jeremy Cronin last week and posed some interesting questions around the Macron phenomenon and SA's possible "Brazil moment"..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Donwald writes: "We are neither in a Brazil moment or a Macron movement (in South Africa). I think we are (facing) neither." But one of a handful of communists now left in the Zuma executive says there are some interesting parallels..South Africa, like much of the world was facing "a crisis of representative democracy and the rise of demagogic populism". Jeremy Cronin says the demagogic populism could be pinned at the door of president Jacob Zuma and his faction..Cronin draws the word demagogic from a leader of "a mob" who – according to Wikipedia – draws popularity by exploiting prejudice and ignorance among the common people and "shutting down reasoned deliberation". It is quite a thing to describe the man who is his boss, President Zuma, in such terms..Indeed, Cronin believes South Africa is "neither in a Brazil or Macron moment. For those who have not been following the second French revolution, president Macron rocketed to France's top job in April and then his new party La Republique En Marche won the most seats in the French parliamentary elections in May..Cronin reckons South Africa, like France or Brazil or much of western Europe and North America is facing deepening inequality and growing social tensions.."Here in South Africa the political crisis is taking its own form, neither Brazilian or French. Because of the large presence of the ANC, the crisis is taking place within the ANC and the alliance (partners), whereas in Brazil it is taking place in a variety of parties and forces. In France there is a non-party political technicism.".Isn't that just what is called for now in the ANC? Time to introduce its own Macron via a technicist like former SA Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni or Trevor Manuel or Pravin Gordhan, I asked.."I don't think a technical response is sufficient…that was what we had in Trevor Manuel…(but) Trevor Manuel has a lot to answer for.".At the Cape Town Press Club, Cronin was asked how he viewed leading ANC presidential candidates – treasurer general Zweli Mkhize, Cyril Ramaphosa and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma..He carefully offered nothing about Mkhize and Dlamini-Zuma, saying he had a lot of respect for Ramaphosa. He wouldn't say any more in public, but he did tell me: "Ramaphosa is correct in saying (that) what we need is technical competence (and) radical structural transformation, not cheapskate populist things.".Cronin is not quite saying it but you can bet he is putting his money on Ramaphosa, perhaps a bit of a combination of elements of Macron and former Brazilian president Lula da Silva.".Donwald is obviously not referring to the corrupt side of Lula. Things are starting to happen really fast in SA's political firmament. It's also looking increasingly like the binary solution is turning positively – with the home grown demagogue slowly having his grip removed from the levers of state.

WORLDVIEW: No Brazil moment, but pressure keeps building on SA’s demagogue

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