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Democracy is an idea brought to life by our daily actions. From voting to everyday acts of trust and lawfulness, South Africans continuously uphold and celebrate democratic principles, even amid challenges, showcasing hope and unity.
Democracy is an idea brought to life by our daily actions. From voting to everyday acts of trust and lawfulness, South Africans continuously uphold and celebrate democratic principles, even amid challenges, showcasing hope and unity.
1. Democracy isn’t real; you can’t see or touch it. It is just an idea. But when you put this idea into the hands of human beings, it becomes real. We give meaning to democracy when we, as citizens, conduct democratic acts. We do this every day in small ways. When we pay VAT on our food, when we stop at a red light when we listen to someone else’s point of view. These are democratic acts because we support principles such as ‘the rule of law’ or ‘freedom’. Mostly, we take these acts for granted. Every few years, however, we watch ourselves make democracy ‘real’ by going together on the same day to vote. You stand in a queue for hours with people you don’t know but who live somewhere near you to draw an ‘x’ on three pieces of paper.
This is one of the most hopeful acts we can perform. We turn an imagined idea into something tangible. Last week, 16 million people participated in this collective act, showing hope and trust in a shared future.
2. We have robust democratic systems. Competition is a fundamental democratic principle, but when people compete, this can have unpleasant consequences, such as fighting and violence. We didn’t have this in our elections. They were ‘free’ and they were ‘fair’. What does that mean? You and I could stand for hours in a queue and not worry about being intimidated or threatened. When we looked at those pieces of paper, we knew we had the freedom to make our X wherever we wanted. We also know that your X, my X, and the votes of the other hundreds of people standing with you were all counted. Several times. By hand, with observers.
3. A liberation party that has been in power in government for 30 years just peacefully accepted that they have lost the majority in parliament. Being in government brings access to many resources, and no party wants to give that up. And the ANC will have to give up some of these benefits, starting with dozens of parliamentary seats, nationally and provincially. They will have to make concessions to other parties they do not want to work with, but they have indicated they will do this. Why? They know they have no choice because South Africans are democrats at heart and would not allow an election to be manipulated or stolen. Not everyone, not all the time, but most people, most of the time. Yes, the ANC is currently, rightly, acting maturely. However, they have few other viable options.
Yes, South Africa faces multiple governance challenges, from poor administration to corruption. But governance is different from democracy - governance is what happens between our democratic acts. For 30 years, South Africans have largely held firm in supporting the ideal and practice of democracy.
Professor Fiona Anciano is the Acting Deputy Dean of Research in the Department of Political Studies at the Economic and Management Sciences Faculty. She is also the founder of the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group (PUG) at UWC. PUG will host three major events this month, including the 2024 Participedia Partners Conference. Participedia is a global network and crowdsourcing platform (Participedia.net) for researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in democratic innovations.
Listen to Professor Fiona Anciano speak about the three things South Africans should celebrate about democracy.
This is one of the most hopeful acts we can perform. We turn an imagined idea into something tangible. Last week, 16 million people participated in this collective act, showing hope and trust in a shared future.
2. We have robust democratic systems. Competition is a fundamental democratic principle, but when people compete, this can have unpleasant consequences, such as fighting and violence. We didn’t have this in our elections. They were ‘free’ and they were ‘fair’. What does that mean? You and I could stand for hours in a queue and not worry about being intimidated or threatened. When we looked at those pieces of paper, we knew we had the freedom to make our X wherever we wanted. We also know that your X, my X, and the votes of the other hundreds of people standing with you were all counted. Several times. By hand, with observers.
3. A liberation party that has been in power in government for 30 years just peacefully accepted that they have lost the majority in parliament. Being in government brings access to many resources, and no party wants to give that up. And the ANC will have to give up some of these benefits, starting with dozens of parliamentary seats, nationally and provincially. They will have to make concessions to other parties they do not want to work with, but they have indicated they will do this. Why? They know they have no choice because South Africans are democrats at heart and would not allow an election to be manipulated or stolen. Not everyone, not all the time, but most people, most of the time. Yes, the ANC is currently, rightly, acting maturely. However, they have few other viable options.
Yes, South Africa faces multiple governance challenges, from poor administration to corruption. But governance is different from democracy - governance is what happens between our democratic acts. For 30 years, South Africans have largely held firm in supporting the ideal and practice of democracy.
Professor Fiona Anciano is the Acting Deputy Dean of Research in the Department of Political Studies at the Economic and Management Sciences Faculty. She is also the founder of the Politics and Urban Governance Research Group (PUG) at UWC. PUG will host three major events this month, including the 2024 Participedia Partners Conference. Participedia is a global network and crowdsourcing platform (Participedia.net) for researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in democratic innovations.
Listen to Professor Fiona Anciano speak about the three things South Africans should celebrate about democracy.
