These are dangerous times for democracy. Including the global heartland of the USA as yesterday’s televised images of unprecedented scenes in Washington showed us. American rioters vented their frustration by storming the Capitol, on a belief November’s US presidential elections were rigged.
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Here in SA, a similar attack on democracy is gaining momentum. Social media is abuzz with a widely circulated article by who uses SA’s murder rate of 57 a day to spearhead his claim this country is in a low-grade civil war. The perception of incompetent and even illegitimate governance is supported by the much quoted ANC is supported by only 37% of registered voters.
Democracy’s greatest flaw is its winner-takes-all approach. Win an election with 50% plus one of those who bothered to vote and victors feel entitled to govern like they’d won the support of all. In 1994 SA briefly addressed this defect through Nelson Mandela’s Government of National Unity. If ever there were a time to reconsider benefits of a different way of governance, this is it.
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