How Culture and Ethnicity Have Been Politicized in South Africa - Assignment Example

 How Culture and Ethnicity Have Been Politicized in South Africa Situated at the Southern end of Africa, the Republic of South Africa is among the most developed nations within the Dark Continent. Given that South Africa is a multi-ethnic society, the nation has people who speak a variety of languages as well as those who believe in different religions and cultures. The last census that was carried out within the nation revealed that the nation has a population of about 53 million citizens out of which 80% are blacks. Whereas, the remaining 20% have different origins with some of them being whites of European origin while some of them being of Indian or Asian origin. The nation attained internal self-independence in 1994 following a successful fight against Apartheid. Since the end of the apartheid movement in 1994, South African politics has been majorly dominated by the ruling party; African National Congress (ANC). The ANC has been winning all the previous elections with 60 plus percentage. The lowest percentage of those coming in the last general election where ANC garnered 63% of the votes while the strongest opposition party known as the Democratic Alliance attained 18% of the votes. South Africa is among the most advanced states in Africa and the world over. However, the electorate that has been handling political matters has majorly been hinged on the race, the culture and the ethnic line from which the individual originates. For starters, the blacks majorly dominate ANC; the ruling party. The officials in charge of the party are blacks. The blacks also control the different wings of the party majorly the ANC Youth League as well as the ANC Women’s League. The South African situation contrasts the nations where the ruling party tends to embrace all the races within the nation. In the United States, for example, president Barrack Obama, serving final term in office, is regarded as of African American origin. The Democratic Alliance, the major political party in South Africa, is mostly associated with citizens of white origin. Politics is said to be hinged on races because out of all the elections that have been carried out in South Africa, the blacks who form the highest population of voters, have not accorded the Democratic Alliance much support. In as much as the ANC has always promised them radical change in terms of development and failed to honor most of the pledges, the blacks have normally rallied behind the ANC with the Democratic Alliance receiving support from the coloured people of various origins. Observers and stakeholders in various sectors have always held the opinion that the event that the ANC played an integral role in the fight against apartheid is one of the reasons why the electorate always accords the party support (Singh, 2004). Because of the credentials drawn from the struggle against apartheid, the ANC has been exploiting this event arguing that if the power is handed to the Democratic Alliance, then the country would be sent back to the apartheid years. In South Africa, Culture and Ethnicity have also played a far-reaching role in Politics. Given that, South Africa has several races; residents of the nation speak different languages. The nation has eleven official languages. Most of the residents of South Africa speak English, and a considerable number of them speak Afrikaans, a language that traces all the way to the Dutch. Apart from the official languages, the Zulu community that makes 29% of the black population in South Africa practice different cultures and languages. Similarly, the Khoisan communities practice a culture that is different from other the South Africans even though they are little in number. The current situation in South Africa is such that industrialization has prompted the people to embrace several cultures of Western nationalities. In the past, however, the ethnic line of an individual contributed significantly in that for a coloured individual or an Afrikaner for that matter to have been embraced as of common interest with the blacks, he or she had to be sharing the same vision with the blacks. In like manner, the people had to be proud of the African cultures and had openly discerned the cultures of the coloured people. This condition prompted F.W de Clerk to occasionally dress in traditional blankets, to show that he was indeed one of the blacks. Though the current situation is that the entire Zulu community accords its political support to the ruling ANC, way back in 1994 -1995, the Zulu community was affiliated with the Inkatha Freedom Party (Hamilton, 2001). They, however, shifted base after the Zulu King reached an agreement with the ANC leadership leaving the residents of the Zulu community with no choice, but to accord its support to ANC. The Xhosa community that is also one of the most respected communities in South Africa offers its support to the ANC. History has it that, during the elections that were held in the nineties, 89% of the electorate from the Xhosa community voted for the ruling ANC. In like manner, history reveals that 50% of the Zulu community used to voting for the ruling ANC during the elections that were held in the nineties. The event that the electorate vote for ANC and not the parties that are associated with the whites supports the fact that politics in South Africa is hinged on the ethnic line from which an individual originates. One can argue that the blacks contribute to politics being based on culture and ethnicity majorly because they form the highest population of the electorate. Nevertheless, the coloured population should also be looked at because they too vote for candidates that are affiliated with the whites. Observers have always claimed that just as the blacks vote for candidates affiliated with their parties, the white too follow this trend. In the last elections, for example, the Democratic Alliance, which is majorly affiliated with the whites, garnered 16% of the votes cast (Dusing, 2012). The percentage attained reflects the number of whites who are no doubt eligible to vote. It is the dream of every society that things be decided based on the performance and how an individual delivers. Even though the blacks have always voted in and will for the foreseeable future continues voting for the ANC, there is absolute certainty that they too want change. The desired change comes out in the sense that the ANC has always made promises that they have always failed to honor. With the elections coming up next year, various surveys evaluate the possibility of things changing. One recent survey that was carried out was to find out what the South African residents thought about power being handed to the main opposition party; the Democratic Alliance. The results did confirm that politics based on ethnicity is still to be witnessed in South Africa for the near future. Thus, it is because 52% of the blacks who were interviewed attested to the fact that if the power were handed over to the Democratic Alliance, then it would be a way of introducing the apartheid. The coloured population that were interviewed, on the other hand, argue that if the power were handed to the Democratic Alliance then South Africa would witness considerable growth in terms of infrastructure and industrialization. Political analysts have, therefore, said that though the Democratic Alliance recently announced that its Presidential Candidate shall be the wife of former anti-apartheid hero Steve Biko, the chances of it emerging top in the coming general elections are still slim. They, however, say that fielding a candidate of black origin has tilted things to their favor given that a section of the electorate has lost faith in the ANC following several allegations of corruption and misappropriation of funds. Over and above, there is no doubt that culture is one of the things that we should hold closer to our hearts. It is because, it shows us the way to go and to have a culture that we believe in makes, us not go astray from the demands of the society. Nevertheless, we should not use ethnicity and culture to discriminate against others, because we need others and the society to bring the best out of ourselves. References Dusing, S. (2012) Traditional leadership and democratization in Southern Africa: A comparative study of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa Münster.: Lit. Hamilton, C. V. (2001). Beyond racism: Race and inequality in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner. McEachern, C. (2002). Narratives of nation media, memory and representation in the making of the new South Africa Huntington, N.Y: Nova Science Publishers Rich, P. B. (1993). Hope and despair: English-speaking intellectuals and South African politics : 1896-1976. London : British Acad. Press Rotberg, R. I. (1980). Suffer the future: policy choices in southern Africa. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Singh, A. (2004). Indians in post-apartheid South Africa New Delhi: Concept Pub Co Read More