Excerpts from Welcoming Remarks

presented by Dr. L.P.H.M.Mtshali,
Premier of KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa

The Province and the Government of KwaZulu Natal are delighted and privileged in welcoming the participants in the Third Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy. We feel that our Province is greatly enriched by your presence. We look forward to the success of this event. In fact, we are convinced that your deliberations will be of great assistance in the consolidation of our fledgling and still uncertain democracy. The consolidation of democracy is a long process which is not finalized, but just begins with the holding of a democratic election.

I am delighted that your conference is correctly placing emphasis on the need to promote democracy by strengthening the opinions, voices and roles of genuine democrats. In order to survive and grow, a democracy needs genuine democrats at this stewardship. Genuine democrats are those who understand what democracy needs to grow and prosper and are willing to become instruments of such a process, even if that means risking unpopularity or diminishing the amount of power and influence which one may otherwise gather in one’s own hands. Democracy needs friends especially within the circles of government, where they often lack.

We are delighted that your conference takes place in KwaZulu Natal because in a certain sense we feel that ours is the Province in which democracy is the most vibrant and effective. In our Province no political party holds an absolute majority, which forces all political parties to seek compromise, and operate through the dialects of democracy, rather than resorting to the blunt and rough exercise of power. The composition of my own government reflects the challenges of our democracy as well as its vibrancy. My government relies on a coalition of like-minded parties based on the partnership between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Democratic Alliance. In order to secure greater stability for our Province and promote better governance, the ANC participates in Government even though we are often opposed to its policies, perspectives and political action. This has not made the working of our democracy easy, and indeed it often creates enormous difficulties and setbacks, but it has ensured that our democracy is real, alive and vibrant.

For me democracy is a system which is aimed at controlling conflicts and transforming their energy into positive forces which may move society forward. Democracy should not be about eliminating conflict by silencing dissent or forcing political correctness or uniformity. Wherever the existence of potentially beneficial conflict has been eliminated by absolute power and consensus is enforced by the fear of dissent, one does not have democracy but democratic stagnation. We have many situations of this type in other provinces and regions of South Africa, but fortunately not in KwaZulu Natal.

Democracy can at times be likened to a well functioning engine which when seen from outside and at a distance, produces a harmonious sound and a constant stride forward, however, if one were to place oneself within the insides of one of the engine’s cylinders, where thousands of explosions take place in a short time, one would have an image comparable only to hell. We have experienced in this Province many difficult conflicts and at times we have felt defeat from the many conflicts which have arisen out of our political differences, and even wonder whether indeed we have not plunged into hell. However, as we take distance from the conflict, in which we have been involved, we see how our parliament is indeed the most democratic in the country as there is debate which has the capacity of making a law or a policy succeed or fail.

Unfortunately, genuine democracy is far from having been consolidated within South Africa. We need the assistance of all the friends of democracy around the world to achieve this important result. Democracy requires democratic education at the grassroots level, aimed at enabling people to understand that voting is not an act of allegiance to those who are in power, but a critical assessment of their performance. Not enough people in South Africa have reached the understanding that they indeed have the power to hire and fire any government they so wish, and they can choose who will be the President of South Africa. Too many people feel that they are receiving basic services not from the State, but from the political party which won the election, and feel obliged to pledge their allegiance to those whom they see providing them with pensions, electricity, education or other benefits which they are entitled to under the law in the Constitution. Democracy requires people to understand the abstract notion of the State, which is the real provider of public service, and for political parties to respect the line which should divide their activities from the functions of the State.

As we prepare for our third democratic election, we should wonder about the readiness of our electorate to exercise its paramount function in a democratic system. We have had extensive education to teach people how to vote, but insufficient education to make them fully appreciate why they vote, and the enormous power they hold when they make a cross on the ballot paper. Unfortunately the power of the electorate only depends on the vibrancy of the political system in which elections take place. The electorate is disempowered when it does not have the real option to choose between at least two political parties, which have a likely possibility of becoming the government of the future. Without a viable democratic alternative democracy is but a charade. In fact, the real test of democracy is not in merely empowering a victorious majority, but it really consists in the system of being capable of producing a democratic alternative. The real test of democracy is passed when a victorious majority relinquishes its power to another victorious majority without changing, twisting or tampering with the rules of the game to retain power. Many African countries have empowered victorious majorities but have not yet passed the true test of democracy, nor as yet has South Africa.

It is now clear to all South Africans that KwaZulu Natal has become the battlefield in which, at the next elections, the future of democracy will be tested. On the anvil KwaZulu Natal, the strength of our democratic hope will be tested at the next election. For this reason, the presence of this prestigious conference, in this place and at this time, is of great importance, not only for our Province but also for the whole of our country and indeed for our continent.

We are democrats who are fighting for democracy in the only method allowed by democracy, which is the one which relies on the strength of our opinion, on the merits of our ideas and the power of our hope. For this reason we look forward to the success of your deliberations. We welcome you to our Province, with open arms and hearts. May God protect and inspire this conference. May your deliberations be successful and momentous.