Reading into the differences that exist between Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema, you wouldn’t think they belong to the same political party – a ruling party, for that matter. Zuma is president of African National Congress (ANC) while Malema is the party’s Youth League leader. The two seldom go together because Malema doesn’t tow the presidential and party line.
He is often described by his admirers as a young man who at the age of 30 is perfectly set to change the course of South African politics. He has also made some ‘scathing’ remarks about many African states’ politics. And, he, together with five other league executive members, was recently accused of having drawn the party into disrepute and sowing divisions among the party’s ranks.
When he was attending the disciplinary hearing, hundreds of his supporters burnt placards and t-shirts bearing president Zuma’s face. They were not arrested or charged with sedition.
The disciplinary hearing also followed Malema’s remarks that the ANC Youth League would send a team to Botswana to consolidate local opposition parties and help bring about regime change, as it believed the government there was “in full cooperation with imperialists” and was undermining the “African agenda”.
Malema’s supporters chanted his name while castigating Zuma and went on to say that the young politician would be South Africa’s next president. According to BBC reports, some of the youths even reached the point of saying that they would deal with Zuma the very same way they dealt with former South African president Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki didn’t lose a presidential election; he lost the ANC’s top position to Zuma and later resigned from the country’s top most job after the majority of South Africans lost confidence in him.
Well, Malema might be right or wrong, but it is the democracy that exists in the ANC that might amaze Malawians.
He has been in the news many times because of differing with some of his party’s ideologies. But the ANC has not just gone on to fire him. They accommodate others with dissenting views, and that is intraparty democracy at its best.
Democracy can only manifest itself in the main political realm if it is there in individual political parties. Political parties need to embrace those with dissenting views with the aim of reaching one common ground which can strengthen the party.
But, events that have been taking place in the main political parties in Malawi clearly show that intraparty democracy is a far cry as far as Malawi politics is concerned. The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) appear to be the two main political parties in Malawi where every party member who doesn’t agree with the rest in the party is construed as a pariah who should be cast out.
In a very short period of time, DPP has fired a number of its top officials simply because they didn’t agree with the rest in the party. In this case, it is hard to accept that the party is as democratic and progressive as it claims.
Then, again, in MCP, everyone who disagrees with John Tembo isn’t given a chance to remain in the party with their dissenting views. Instead of utilizing the views expressed by those who disagree with them, Tembo and his other MCP admirers have resorted to firing the ‘stray’ members, thereby weakening the party further.
There are other parties as well that believe that everyone in the party has to hold the common views that are held by everyone else. This is sharply against the fact that in a group of many, it is difficult to stand on a common ground instantly.
Differing views are not always meant to break, but sometimes to build. And those who hold dissenting views shouldn’t always be taken as traitors, for they might just be patriots who simply want to bring something innovative.
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