“I think if we had the good fortunes of Mandela for two terms, we would have had a better chance because he was a committed democrat,” said Mamphela Ramphele/FILE
“I think if we had the good fortunes of Mandela for two terms, we would have had a better chance because he was a committed democrat,” said Mamphela Ramphele, a onetime anti-apartheid activist.
“I’m not so sure that his successors are committed in the same way that he was.”
Ramphele is preparing formally to launch her new political party Agang, which will challenge President Jacob Zuma’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) in polls next year.
Areas of concern she cited included human rights, weak schooling and health, and police brutality.
South Africa has had difficulty making the transition from the culture of liberation that fought the white minority apartheid rule to an effective democracy, she argued.
“The journey to democratic politics is a journey we didn’t as a country understand we needed to undergo,” Ramphele said.
The ANC has ruled since the fall of apartheid in 1994 with overwhelming victories at the ballot box but is under pressure because of failures to deliver on promises.
“What is discouraging is the sense of resignation that so many people feel,” said Ramphele. “What’s going on is bad, but people don’t seem to see an alternative.”
After nearly 20 years of democracy, the country was “on a completely wrong track”, she said.
“There is no doubt that looking at where South Africa stands, nearly 20 years after that beautiful day in our history, we are a country which has not lived up to the promise of that dream.”
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