Only 26 years ago, South Africa was still living under an authoritarian political system based on the discrimination, subjugation, hence segregation of the ‘non-white’ majority of the country. Despite Nelson Mandela’s courageous fight against this suppressive regime and the success of his party, the African National Congress (ANC), in reforming the constitution, Apartheid still rings in many South African’s ears. If there’s something that historical institutionalism teaches us, it’s that history matters, and can consequently, despite a nation’s best efforts, come to haunt them. In other words, the persistence of certain institutions can cause barriers to the country developing towards a more prosperous future.
It is certainly true that there are significant imperfections to the formal institutions within South Africa still today, and these could, and should, no doubt be linked to the nation’s troubled history (Verwey et al, 2012). However, another impediment to the country developing further are the problematic informal institutions it has inherited from its Apartheid past, most prominently racial divisions on politics from a previous inherently racialised world. Party images, that is to say, the public’s perception of what and whom the party represents, constitute a tremendous challenge to opposition parties to become viable political alternative to the dominant ANC party. The ANC is still implicitly regarded by most as the ‘liberation’ party that fights for racial justice and for the poor majority of ‘coloured’ people, and, on the other hand, the Democratic Alliance (DA), the most prominent opposition party, is viewed as representing the interest of the white elite, rather than the black common people, despite its effective policies on a provincial level (The Economist).
Hence, whether it is in the population’s interest to vote for them, and no matter how corrupt the ANC government behaves, the ANC gains the majority of votes in every single election since 1994, and remains in power with very little competition. Unfortunately, this translates into the perpetuation of the single party state (better term), and with it, its twin brother, the pervasiveness of corruption.
Hence, in order to grow into a functioning government that has the interest of the population in mind, South Africa needs to supersede its racially-tense heritage through changing views and informal institutions around the effectiveness of the ANC. However, as we know by now, evolving informal institutions and culture span over long timeframes, if not spurred by exogenous shock. Perhaps the coronavirus is able to unite across the racial divide and speed up this process.
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