The Miracle Of Democracy Is Not Without Its Fallen Heroes. - Ps Ray McCauley

We should pat ourselves on the back for the journey we have travelled as a nation. Just before the first democratic elections of 1994 we were on the brink of civil war and catastrophe that would have reduced our beautiful country to ashes.

Nothing captures better the precipice we were facing then 1994 The Bloody Miracle – a documentary that has been broadcast on eNCA for several days leading up to the 20 years of democracy celebrations. It is a history we should not forget. It is scary to see in the documentary how close we came to finishing ourselves in an orgy of senseless violence, threatening to destroy the future of our children in the process.

It is often said mankind’s capacity for evil knows no bounds. We should be grateful that our capacity for good, as South Africans, took precedence over the inclination to self-destruct. It was not an easy transition and the documentary eloquently makes the point. I personally came face to face with pre 1994 violence on June 18, 1992 – a day after the Boipatong massacre – when I was part of a delegation of the South African Council of Churches that visited the area. In the delegation were fellow clerics such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reverend Frank Chikane and the late Reverend Sam Buti, among others.

Although I had until then passively opposed apartheid by, for example defying the Group Areas Act and making it possible for some of our congregants to live in what were then called “white” areas, I have never come so close to the brutality of apartheid. Some of us had until then hid behind our spirituality and ignored the stark reality of the dark events of the apartheid era – a point I made at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in November 1999 when our religious organization, the International Federation of Christian Churches, made its submission.

Boipatong and many similar events should never ever happen in our country. And so, in spite of our achievements in the past 20 years, I worry when incidents such as Marikana happen. I equally worry when our men and women in blue fall victim to guns and pangas of marauding gangsters and mobs. This is not the type of South Africa we yearned for: I have no doubt in my mind that this country is a far better place today than it was prior to 1994.

Only a denialist living in total oblivion would deny that. Sanitation, water, housing, electricity, social grants and basic education, among others, have been made available to millions of our previously disadvantaged compatriots. Though black people in general are still disproportionately represented in boardrooms and in the economic ownership stakes of corporate South Africa, the black middle class has exponentially increased.

The litmus test, though, is not how this class dominates the consumer market in numbers and spending power; but how it will become producers and owners of wealth. The future stability of our country is, I dare say, going to be determined by the economic question. We have done relatively well on the social wage bill (education, health, basic amenities and social welfare) as a country and the democratic government must be applauded in this regard.

However, one must point out those things that are worrying. Apart from persisting economic inequality (and for which corporate SA must take responsibility), corruption, lack of efficiency in government at municipal level, unemployment and lack of social cohesion are some of the issues that we will need to prioritise as we start the third decade of our democracy.

Could we have better in the last 20 years? Of course, there is always room for improvement. However, there is no denying that we have reason to celebrate and not to be proud as a nation. On May 7, we shall be going to the polls to vote for those we think are worthy to govern us.

So far the campaigning has gone relatively well though there have been reported incidents of political intolerance here and there. Also, the language among political rivals has at times been intemperate. But that is the nature of electioneering. The fact that no major incidents of political violence have so far been reported during the electioneering period speaks to the maturing of our democracy.

But even so, it would not be amiss to appeal for political tolerance and urge all those who are registered to vote to go out and vote. Remembering that many lost their lives to secure us this right.