Chairperson, Chairperson of the NCOP, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, it is with a sense of honour and pleasure that I address this august House this afternoon. Like many hon members present here today - and there are not that many present - I have spent the better part of my life campaigning for democracy in our country.
There are those who will argue that South Africa is now a democratic country, and in many ways they will be correct. It is indeed a better country. A democracy, however, is not an event that occurred for South Africa in 1994. It is a system of government which evolved, and continues to evolve; one which requires every one of us to nurture and protect it. It is, therefore, fit and proper that we should celebrate this the International Day of Democracy.
Democracy is not simply government of the people by the people; there is so much more to democracy than that. There are certain core and independent institutions in any real democracy. These are the legislature, the executive - or government - the state, the judiciary and the Press. If even one of these institutions ceases to be independent or to exist, then democracy under these conditions is doomed to failure.
There is a dangerous view amongst many of the people in South Africa that democracy starts and finishes at the ballot box, that once the majority has won, then it is the democratic right of those with the majority to control, not only the legislature and the government, but also all other institutions of democracy such as the SABC, the judiciary and other institutions.
Thus we see the appointment of cadres of the ruling party at all levels in state departments, the JSC, the SABC board, the Reserve Bank and others.
The holding of elections and forming a government does not constitute a democracy. Before 1994, South Africa was no more democratic than Swaziland is today. Elections and governments existed or exist in both, but neither can be called democracies. Largely as a result of the unselfish efforts of our very own hon Nzimande, who is not here today, there is today a disabled person who is a member of the Swaziland parliament. Even so, that parliament is still not part of a functioning democracy.
I spent last week in the company of the Kwa-Zulu Natal delegates to the NCOP; good people, every one of them, with whom I believe I have formed a close bond. Despite these good people, two of us, delegates from Kwa-Zulu Natal, who are not members of the ruling party, were left high and dry on Thursday because the official programme had been cancelled to allow the ANC delegates to attend an ANC workshop.
In a small way, this is an example of the view that interests of the ruling party take precedence over the interests of government. I raise this point not to embarrass my Kwa-Zulu Natal colleagues in any way, but simply to highlight the dangerous mode of undermining democracy that we sometimes find ourselves in.
Some of us will argue that it is the job of both Parliament and government to implement the wishes of the people. In a democracy, the wishes of the people must always be balanced against the requirements of justice, and in particular, justice for every single man, woman and child. A situation wherein the rights of a single person are trodden on in order to carry out the wishes of the people is not a democracy.
The National Socialist German Workers' Party, the Nazis, in Germany had the support of the people, but it was certainly not a democracy. In South Africa, there can be no justification either for my son to be denied employment simply because he's a so-called white. How can we justify it when my son is interviewed for job by a large corporation, reaches the final selection, but is then told that despite his suitability for the job, they cannot employ him because he is not African.
Let me say it to you that this manipulation of individual rights to give preference to some South Africans simply on the basis of skin colour is undemocratic and is no better than the job reservation laws of the apartheid government. I say it to you today, ladies and gentlemen, my family and I are African, and no government will ever take that away from us.
What our democracy in South Africa urgently needs is for opportunities to be created for all its people; that is what we need to make it a true democracy.
We all need to grapple with the meaning of real democracy for South Africa, and to try, without rest, to put this into place. We must never again allow our country to slide into the undemocratic state of nationalism.
With God's help, may we all strive for a nonracial liberal democracy in South Africa. I thank you, Mr Chairman.