Al-Qalam 
Former South African president Jacob Zuma appears before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that is probing wide-ranging allegations of corruption in government and state-owned companies in Johannesburg, on July 19, 2019. - Zuma, who started testifying on July 15, has rebuffed all accusations of wrongdoing and said he and his family had received death threats after his first appearance. (Photo by MIKE HUTCHINGS / various sources / AFP)
By Imraan Buccus
Living in South Africa is like being on a roller coaster. There are lots of ups and downs, and they are often very steep. The national mood can oscillate between jubilation and despair in a matter of months.
We are still getting to grips with just how much damage the kleptocracy that thrived under Jacob Zuma did to our society. And we are still coming to terms with our collective disappointment in the fact that Cyril Ramaphosa has turned out to be a weak and indecisive leader; arguably without much charisma.
But while the hope for a good leader who could quickly restore the damage is understandable the long-term flourishing of a society is guaranteed, more than anything else, by the strength of its institutions. A society with strong institutions can survive a bad leader, and doesn’t require an extraordinarily good leader.
As we all know Zuma worked assiduously, and effectively, to undermine the key institutions of democracy. He was very effective with regard to the intelligence services, the prosecuting authority, the tax authority and the police, and did serious damage to large swathes of the media. Parts of the academy were compromised too, and we have still not got to the bottom of the significant intelligence role in the student protests of 2015. However, the judiciary survived at its higher levels, and our best investigative journalists were able to regroup and work from new platforms.
Institutions exist in society as well as in the state. The trade unions and the Communist Party both played a scurrilous role in Zuma’s ascent to power but, in the end, were able to turn against him. They were compromised but never entirely rotten. Without their opposition to Zuma we would not have been able to depose the kleptocracy.
The fact that we were able to depose the kleptocracy is no small feat. Many societies, including, for example, Mexico and Angola, have lived under kleptocracies for a generation or more. We should take comfort from the fact that we were able to depose Zuma, and his corrupt cabal, with relative speed.
And while progress in restoring the integrity of our institutions seems painfully slow the fact is that it is happening. Ramaphosa may not be a charismatic leader but bringing credible leaders into our institutions is a major gain.
For years South Africans have been reading solid investigative journalism about crimes committed by state officials, corporates and politicians. But while we continue to read about the actions of people like Markus Jooste and Floyd Shivambu they appear to continue their lives with impunity. This seriously weakens public confidence in the state, and in the future. It leads to a general pessimism that has a corrosive impact on public confidence, and impact with damaging economic and social consequences.
But while progress in repairing institutions is slow it is happening. The fact that Zuma, and his key ally; former Durban Mayor Zandile Gumede, will stand trial, is highly significant. It shows that while our institutions are slow they do work and there is no longer impunity for the powerful. If a former President, and a former Mayor, can be forced to account for their actions in court there is no reason why people like Jooste and Shivambu can assume that they will continue to enjoy impunity. This is a major breakthrough in the restoration of public confidence in our society.
Of course, there is still much work to do to continue to repair our institutions. But that work is underway. And, of course, we must be concerned by the fact that our political institutions are weakening at the same time as state institutions are slowly strengthening. In a democracy strong and credible political parties are essential.
The ANC remains divided between the reformers, grouped around Ramaphosa, and those, grouped around Ace Magashule, who aim to restore the kleptocracy. The group committed to reform is itself divided between a left faction, led by the SACP, and a neoliberal faction led by Tito Mboweni.
These divisions in the ruling party, and the fact that there continues to be a faction openly committed to restoring the kleptocracy, seriously weakens the reform project, a project that is vital to securing our future. At the same time both of the major opposition parties are in crisis.
The Democratic Alliance is split between its largely white old guard that wishes to retrain control over the party and a largely black faction that is itself deeply compromised by Herman Mashaba’s crude rightwing populism. Things could change without Mashaba.
The party has also been deeply compromised by its alliance with the EFF in Pretoria and Johannesburg, and revelations about deep corruption on the part of the EFF. Some kind of split or implosion seems inevitable.
The EFF is also in deep crisis. There is clear evidence in the public domain suggesting criminal conduct on the part of its two leading figures, Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu, and the party is now openly associated with the ANC faction that aims to restore the kleptocracy.
The end result of all this mess is that while state institutions are slowly being repaired, and while investigative journalism continues to thrive in new platforms, our political institutions – in the form of the ruling party and the two largest opposition parties – are all in crisis. We will not be able to secure the process of reform that is currently underway if we cannot build credible political institutions. This is the next frontier in the long, slow and often exhausting fight to secure our future.
Imraan Buccus is Al Qalam editor, research fellow in the School of Social Sciences at UKZN and academic director of a university study abroad program on political transformation.
