The Defend our Democracy campaign’s Conference for Democratic Renewal and Change kicked off in Johannesburg on 1 July.
and political scientist at the University of Pretoria, Professor Sandy Africa.
“In fact, one of the key propositions I suggested this morning, on electoral reform, would require a constitutional amendment. What we must ensure is that all reforms are well-considered and subject to what [Indian economist and Nobel laureate] Amartya Sen calls democratic public reasoning. “Given the state of our crisis, we cannot just jump into a Nedlac-managed social compact, which is being presented as the magic bullet… I think the time has come for a national referendum on the electoral system to define the way forward.”
In a democracy the state cannot relinquish its duty to protect citizens because this leaves a vacuum to be filled by militias, vigilantes and opportunistic forces. The July 2021 unrest also showed the police are under-resourced. “There were so many instances where people reported that the police stood back while the violence unfolded implicating them in the mayhem.
Madubedube said language use and messaging were important in the struggle for democracy: “We have to build towards collective ideals and it’s urgent. The reason that language and messaging of our struggle is important is because we have to think about how we’re going to celebrate those gains.
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