Joburg ANC public representatives are behaving like Trump fans

Lindiwe Sisulu and the parliament arsonist(s) are not the only ones attacking pillars of our democracy.

The assault on the office of the speaker of council in South Africa’s biggest city is in the same league. Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo responded robustly to Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s denigration of judges. And political leaders,
except from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), condemned the setting alight of parliament. President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly letter “we should strengthen our resolve to defend the institutions of our democracy”.

Yet, he said nothing about Johannesburg ANC public representatives violating their oath of office. That’s a notable omission by the ANC leader. Does he condone the invasion of the speaker’s space in Joburg? Media falsely depicted equivalence between what the ANC and EFF were doing and the behaviour of governing coalition councillors.

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Only one side was physically violating the oath pledged by all councillors to “obey, respect and uphold the constitution and all other laws of the republic”. Councillors solemnly promise to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Leave aside the singing, dancing and shouting in the chamber, which drew attention.

More serious was the forcible intrusion into the areas allocated to other parties, bruising fellow councillors, including women. Please, ANC, don’t lecture anyone on gender-based violence. Taxpayers are angered by this waste of time and money. Councillors were not performing their duties to the best of their abilities.

The onslaught on democracy is serious. If anything in municipal government embodies our constitutional order, it is the speaker’s space, which these bullies tried to take over by force. Their ostensible aim was to ensure committee chairs would be elected by secret ballot. Yet established practice in Joburg council, in ANC councils countrywide and in parliament, is to vote for chairs by a show of hands.

South African courts have rejected attempts to enforce secret ballots in legislatures. Last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal “affirmed the powers of the speaker to decide the best mode or procedure of voting by members of the National Assembly, as she deems appropriate”. (Government statement, 8 December, 2021).

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Secret ballots are open to bribery. Some legislators will vote against their own party if they are surreptitiously paid enough. The ANC is no fan of secret ballots. But Johannesburg ANC councillors were stunned last Thursday when they realised eight Patriotic Alliance councillors would tip the balance in favour of the governing multiparty coalition.

What the Joburg ANC was really trying to do was to force an adjournment, buying time to induce councillors to vote with the ANC. We may never know the names of all those who resisted ANC inducements.

In Joburg, we are witnessing the ANC’s inability to accept electoral defeat. The party is failing a democratic test. Ramaphosa’s silence signals approval of a tactic different in scale but not in intent from that of Donald Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol last January.