ANOTHER first awaits South Africa when the presidential State of the Nation Address (SONA) gets underway in the colonial-era City Hall in CapeTown and not the nation’s landmark, Parliament, birthplace of a progressive Constitution that paved the way for a non-racial democracy
TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO, there I was in Parliament – among the first press corp of colour as a political correspondent to take our seats to witness and report on the epoch-making day when the newly-configured South Africa was born out of a baptism of fire as the world’s newest and youngest democracy.
The important dateline was 24 May 1994.
Two giant statesmen made this reality check politically possible: Frederick Willem de Klerk (1936-2021) and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) – later to become president and deputy president in a democratic SA on 10 May 1994.
In Parliament, on 2 February 1990, President de Klerk boldly announced the freeing of Mandela and the unbanning of the outlawed ANC, and all anti-apartheid formations.
On 11 February 1990, Mandela walked free out of prison – the high point of extensive negotiations between him and de Klerk – resulting in Mandela leaving Robben Island to a prison house after 27 years.
The global society called the birth of SA a “miracle”. Established nations hailed us as the “darling of democracy”.
Little blood-letting marked the dawn of democracy. A potentially-explosive right-wing revolution was put down. Radical Afrikaner supporters of apartheid were crushed down firmly. However, dozens lost their lives and did not live to cast their first vote in the all-race election on 27 April 1994 – a month sullied by uncertainty, sporadic bombings, war cries, social and political tensions and the established markets were on a jittery edge. Threats of civil war, a Black-versus-White internecine war, loomed on the dark skies. Shadowy counter-revolutionaries and double agents were at work, stockpiling arms in remote caches. The threat of Black-on-Black violence was averted on the eve of the first democratic poll – the dominant ANC and smaller IFP smoked the peace pipe.
A commission of inquiry details documents and chronicles the calendar of violence, deaths, detentions, tortures and in the pre-and-post-apartheid years headed: Political Violence in the Era of Negotiations and Transition, 1990-1994.
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa – CODESA – became the political platform and forum for all the diverse political warriors to bury the hatchet, create a climate of détente and hammer out a constitutional blueprint for free and fair elections – the rallying campaign calls were for “one-man, one-vote” during the epic, worldwide Struggle era.
Fast-track this episode of epic proportions: The death of apartheid and the birth of democracy.
Within the new-look Parliament in May 1994, a splash of colour, demographics and diversity never seen before during the long reign and rule of colonial and apartheid governments. A cacophony of sound and cultures clashed beautifully. The air was filled with excitement, anxiety. Super-optimism and hope that democracy will weave its political magic and overshadow the horrendous past of a chequered country.
Parliament ushered the new watchdog for constitutional democracy, a shining new beacon for constitutional reforms, muster and breakthroughs: South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
Twenty-eight years later, Parliament, a place of political pilgrimage, is no more. As the New Year dawned, a bizarre fire gutted the historic home of democracy.
For more than two-and-half decades, the goings-on in Parliament – the successive SONA speeches from Mandela to Mbeki, Zuma – and again by Ramaphosa – had captured the imagination of the nation and road-mapped the year ahead.
The tit-for-tat debates and hell-raising – sometimes with and without decorum and dignity – and the protocols – has transformed Parliament from a chamber of conversations to a battle ground of political rivalry.
Parliament rose from the ashes of apartheid to the zenith of democracy. Parliament sparkled from landmark constitutional successes to a house of shame. Unparliamentary language, a culture of arrogance, rudeness and impoliteness and fisticuffs were part of the agenda.
Parliament is where lawmakers made history.
Now ahead of SONA, smartly-dressed law-makers and ministers, deputies and MPs will be lining up to take their seats in City Hall – exactly 32 years to the day – 11 February 1990 – when Mandela addressed the nation from the balcony of a grand City Hall that was built in 1909.
President Ramaphosa – amidst the strain and stresses of the Covid-19 pandemic background – has to put his best foot forward at his SONA – to unite the nation around rebuilding a broken country towards peace, progress and prosperity.
Parliament represents all of us. Parliament’s main function – as the supreme legislative authority – is tasked with building fair and strong laws to represent and protect the rights of all the people and be accountable to the voters who put public representatives in the legislature.
Mandela signed off the Constitution on 10 December 1996 (it came into law in 1997) and Friday marked 25 years.
Footnote: Our Parliament and Constitution are sacrosanct – let us keep a sharp eye on SONA 2022 and not drop the ball on democracy.
MARLAN PADAYACHEE is a seasoned journalist and former mainstream political and diplomatic correspondent, serves on Gopio International’s media council, ambassador at City University of London, media-communications bodies, SAFREA, SANEF, IAJ, heads MapMedia GreenGold Consulting (Pty) Limited, recipient of prestige international scholarship and fellowship, media awards; and continues to research and write columns, articles and opinion-editorial commentary for newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, online digital and social media platforms – without fear or favour nor prejudice; and may be contacted via: marlan.padayachee@gmail.com
