The prospects for a vigorous parliamentary opposition in a democratic South Africa

[摘要] This research report is a probe into prospects of meaningful political opposition in theparliamentary system South Africa. Political oppositions play a very constructive rolein the entrenching of democracy. A free and open democratic system owes a lot topolitics of opposition. The political landscape in South Africa is characterized by onedominant ruling party opposed by small and fragmented opposition. Thus there is achallenge in South Africa’s democracy due to poor opposition politics.The importance of opposition cannot be overstated, democracy thrives when there ishealthy deliberation and contestation in parliament. Thus different goals, values andideas are given the chance to be argued for or against. In South Africa, the AfricanNational Congress (ANC) enjoys large support that dwarfs even the official oppositionparty, the Democratic Alliance (DA). There are other opposition parties inside andoutside parliament. However the fact that the opposition is still relatively weak, is acall for concern.Although relatively weak, the opposition in South African politics is of vastimportance. The effectiveness of the opposition can be measured in the debates inparliament and the positions that the opposition adopt to counter the ruling party.Currently there is the reality of a very loose and weak opposition. The opposition isnot being effective enough to be of considerable substance in the political landscape.The fact that much of the policies the ANC adopts are in principle similar to thebeliefs and ideas of the opposition renders the opposition ineffective and the electorateis left with no real alternative. The point of departure of this research report is that theopposition should assume policies that are an alternative to the ruling party so thatthey can attract the electorate and thus boost democracy in South Africa.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand