Freedom day: still a long walk to freedom
On the 27th of April 1994, South Africa held its first non-racial democratic elections. To start a new chapter in the Rainbow nation’s history, and definitely put an end to three hundred years of colonialism, segregation and white minority rule, an assembly was soon appointed to write a new constitution that would “heal the divisions of the past” and “lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people.” From now on, as the Constitution’s founding provisions state, all South Africans would be equally entitled to the rights, privileges and benefits of citizenship and equally subject to its duties and responsibilities. Regarding political rights, every citizen has the right to “free, fair and regular elections for any legislative body established in terms of the Constitution.”
However, one could wonder if the democratic goal of fair elections reflecting the will of the people has been reached. Indeed, democratic elections entail public education. This idea started to flourish during the French Revolution when philosophers defended that education allows people to think straight and to grasp the truth in what they are being told. According to Condorcet, only through the enlightenment of its citizens can a nation hope to obtain and conserve “good laws, a wise government and a truly free constitution.”
South Africa spends a big share of its national budget on education, yet basic knowledge like literacy remains a problem. Studies show that not being able to read properly hinders access to information and undermines citizen participation in the political sphere. Citizen involvement is precisely what a democratic government needs because politicians have to be held accountable for their actions. The most obvious way for citizens to participate in their country’s affairs is by using their right to vote. In 2019, the voter’s turnout for the national elections was the lowest recorded with only 65,9%, compared to 89,3% in 1999. One of the reasons for such a dropout lies in the many broken promises made by the ruling parties and a growing frustration amongst the population, leading to a political distrust. If elections are crucial to show participation, citizens “also need to condemn ineffective service delivery and unethical behaviour by public service leaders”, explains PhD researcher Lues. As education specialist Paulo Freire conceptualized decades ago, education, and particularly literacy, is a “radical political act” that empowers individuals by “breaking the silence of oppression” and allows them to question the structures that maintain it.
Lack of education is inextricably linked to poverty. Unfortunately, this works as a vicious cycle. In disadvantaged households, people may leave school early to start working. The short-term needs of putting food on the table to survive are more important than the needs to get a qualification offering a better-paid job and, eventually, higher chances to escape poverty in the long run. In South Africa, the latest numbers show that more than half of the population is considered to live in poverty. With a lack of critical thinking caused by limited access to education and information, it becomes harder to understand the interests hiding behind political actions. Disadvantaged communities thus tend to be more vulnerable to manipulations. What to think when we learn that, during the 2019 political campaign, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule was caught offering money to a woman to buy food? Around the same period, Mmusi Maimane was accused of distributing DA-branded food parcels in a low-income area. Every election sees its share of similar scandals. In 2013, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini was accused of buying votes with food parcels in a community where by-elections were soon to be held. Moreover, one of the representatives from the DR Kenneth Kaunda municipality even warned residents that “if the ANC-led government lost power, they would lose grants and food parcels.” The same year, famous antiapartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele stated in a conference on South African politics that “people in poor communities say they are afraid of losing their social grants if they stand up against the governing party.” Sadly, those are only a few examples…
Without drastically improving the education system, the South African government fails to empower its citizens. As a consequence, the structures of oppression remain. You do not bite the hand that feeds you. Since the 27th of April 1994, South Africa became a democracy because all of its citizens gained the right to vote. This is what Freedom Day celebrates. However, the walk to complete freedom is still long for a country in which unscrupulous politicians thrive thanks to a system that replicates inequalities.
