TOXIC POLITICS (what's the solution, if any?)

After nearly sixteen years of monitoring Parliament, our sense is that we expect too much of that deeply troubled institution. Because troubled it most definitely is – as our previous post illustrated. And how could things be otherwise given the complexities of South African politics and our shameful past? Which, in one negative way or another, undoubtedly impacted negatively on the lives of most MPs wandering its corridors (well, those that survived the 2022 fire). And which 'they' can't just 'get over'. Moving on is far from easy when one's family and community have been discriminated against for generations, even if (as someone born after 27 April 1994) one was never directly affected by apartheid.

Put simply, the problem is this: South Africans of European descent prospered (or, at the very least, had every opportunity to do so) under racial capitalism. Black South Africans didn't, although thousands of remarkable members of that deliberately downtrodden-at-the-time community managed to rise above all the adversity and make something of themselves.

For us, how they accomplished that is a source of wonder worthy of universal admiration. Because we're not sure if we could have done so in the circumstances.

People elected by those communities to represent them in Parliament encounter several obstacles to making a meaningful contribution towards alleviating what have come to be known as 'the triple challenges' facing South Africa as a country: poverty, inequality and unemployment. Which is what their constituencies expect of their MPs: to make life better where it has become intolerable. One of those obstacles is social class.

Because, by contrast, South Africans of European descent elected to Parliament generally come from a relatively privileged background. While there may well be individual exceptions (not to forget the horrors of the Afrikaner experience during the Boer War), generally speaking no MP of European descent (or their parents) can honestly say that they personally have been subjected deliberately to systemic institutionalised oppression.

And by the way, neither broad-based black economic empowerment nor affirmative action is oppressive. Together, they may be perceived as a form of social engineering, but hey! How else can past injustices be addressed? Which they must be ... Anyway, it will take decades for those policies to bear fruit – mainly because, for myriad reasons far too complex to explore in this post, the schools available to most black South Africans aren't that great. So, they enter the job market (and any university worth its salt) at a massive disadvantage.

Whether political parties represented in Parliament with a mostly white leadership are there to address past injustices is a moot point. Whatever the case, since South Africans of European descent do tend to be white, let's stop beating about the bush and use that colourless term. The leadership of at least two political parties represented in Parliament is mostly (and, in one case entirely) white.

Now, since both black and white MPs in national Parliament come from such fundamentally different backgrounds with such polarised experiences of life in general (pre- and post-apartheid), is it sensible to expect them to see things from the same perspective? Of course not!

Add to the mix a plethora of home languages, personality types, prejudices (we all have them), education levels and political ideologies – and voilà! Not exactly a recipe for inter-party harmony and goodwill. Although one does occasionally see brief demonstrations of both when MPs arrive at meetings and go through all the social niceties of greeting one another, especially after long parliamentary recesses.

But we digress.

To be blunt, parliamentary proceedings are replete with opportunities for culture clash and ideological impasse. So, we have a toxic environment in which:

• white MPs in parties other than the ANC are perceived by black MPs (except those from their own parties) as racist, pro-capitalism and anti-transformation, among other things

• black MPs in all black-led parties are perceived by white MPs (except those in the ANC and certain multicultural parties) as radical socialists at best (and corrupt opportunists at worst)

• black MPs in white-led parties are perceived by those in black-led parties as misguided sell-outs

• white MPs in black-led parties are perceived by those in white-led parties as misguided sell-outs, and

• MPs from other cultural groups with community-specific concerns tend to feel most comfortable in parties led by people from those communities.

To be frank, it's a gemors. And a breeding ground for miscommunication, misunderstanding, frustration, resentment, anger and impasse. Like the Government of National Unity? No comment!