Getting Better Than “World Class”: The Challenge of Governing Postapartheid South Africa

Steven Friedman Getting Better Than “World Class”: The Challenge of Governing Postapartheid South Africa FOR SOUTH AFRICA’ S POSTAPARTHEID ELITE, GOVERNING A MAJORITYruled polity has been, ironically, primarily an exercise in seeking to impress those who minority rule privileged. The government has, since 1994, met with uneven success in this task, central to its purpose even if rarely explicitly stated. But it has perhaps achieved more than it might have expected—and far more than its white detractors predicted. But in its stated and more appropri­ ate goal—creating a workable, inclusive society—gains have been more modest. And at least part of the reason has been the governing class’s preoccupation with the first goal. Postapartheid South Africa has been governed against a back­ ground shaped by the expectation of many whites, abroad as well as at home, that black governments, particularly those in Africa, are destined to fail. The new governing elite is aware of this prejudice and its desire to refute it has underpinned government in the decade since apartheid. And while this preoccupation has acted at times as a pressure for greater accountability, it has also undergirded an approach to governing that may weaken the new state’s capacity to address its challenges. The postapartheid state has proved reasonably adept at macroeco­ nomic management in particular and, more generally, has made progsocial research Vol 72 : No 3 : Fall 2005 757 ress in enhancing the ability of government departments and agencies to respond to the needs of the formal economy and those who work in it. It has also protected civil liberties to a degree that many might not have expected. This is no small achievement, even if the benefits for many at the grassroots have been limited by the persistence of “brown areas” in which there is low or no presence of the state—understood as “a set of reasonably effective bureaucracies and of the effectiveness of properly sanctioned legality” (O’Donnell, 1993) and in which sources of nondemocratic power still hold sway (Chipkin and Thulare, 1997). Although social movement activists charge, with considerable evidence, that the liberties enjoyed by those with the resources to participate in public debate may not extend to the grassroots,1political freedom for those able to participate in the public policy debate has remained intact. But progress against poverty and inequality, and in incorporating those at the grassroots into the orbit of the state, has been far less marked. While the concern with proving to white bigots that a black-run admin­ istration can govern a reasonably sophisticated economy and society may be quintessentially South African, this experience has lessons for other democracies. REACTING TO RACISM: THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD The desire ofthe governing elite to refute prejudice has, as noted earlier, thus far provided unexpected sources of accountability. In theory, there seems little need for the governing African National Congress (ANC) to account to the electorate since it is in no danger of losing an election in the foreseeable future. Identities in general, racial identity in particular, determine electoral choices (Friedman, 1999a). The ANC has been established for almost a century as the symbolic representative ofthe black majority’s desire for individ­ ual and collective self-realization and so it is assured of electoral success until black voters are presented with an alternative able to compete credibly for power. This, however, may be decades away, since this chal­ lenger will need to emerge from within the ANC tradition and it will be some time before fissures in the governing camp widen enough to 758 social research make this possible. This would seem to vastly reduce the incentive for government to account to citizens, since it has no need to persuade them to reelect it. And, given the importance of race in shaping voter choices, it would appear also to render members of racial minorities, who will not determine electoral outcomes, particularly impotent. But, while minority opinion is not as influential as that of black public figures—perhaps the most important citizens’ victory of the postapartheid period, the change in government policy toward anti­ retroviral treatment for people living with AIDS, was possible partly because leading black constituencies and individuals demanded...