The Wind Of Change

Every morning I am woken up by my alarm clock ,tuned into 5FM, which I then listen to as the painfully long and often difficult process of waking up and actually getting out of bed begins. Once I have finally managed to convince myself that I have to get up and ‘no I can’t sleep for another five minutes’ I turn up the radio and the day begins to brighten. There is nothing like good music in the morning to get your day going. But this is not the only benefit of listening to the radio in the morning as it also keeps me updated on local and international news.

One of the news items that has been mentioned almost everyday for the past few days is that of Mosiuoa Lekota and the possibility of a splinter group being formed. Lekota the former Minister of Defence and a supporter of Thabo Mbeki is considering breaking away from the ANC as he believes that the party has become “arrogant” and there has been an “elimination of internal democracy within the ANC". On Monday night ANC President Jacob Zuma announced that Lekota had been suspended from the party as a result of his plans to leave.

I have heard many opinions about whether he will actually form an opposition party, whether the party will have support and if they could be a viable vote for the 2009 elections. Some people even think that it is disappointing how he is abandoning the ANC.

I on the other hand am actually less concerned with his reasons for wanting to leave the ANC and more with the implications that another party would have on the South African party system especially if it does gain support. South Africa is currently a one party dominated system (that party of course being the ANC) but what if another party had to gain support and be able to offer an alternative to the dominate party. For this exact reason I think that a splinter party is a good idea and is in fact healthy for our party system as a dominating party is a lazy party. Even if this new party only has an effect in the long term it will be worth it as the competition and debate that will ensue will be good for both the ANC and South Africa.