THE DEMOCRACY MANGCU WANTS MUST RECKON WITH THE INSTITUTIONS WE DISMANTLED
Professor Mangcu is right that South Africa needs a more capable democracy. But capability, merit and institutional integrity require us to confront the political choices that weakened the state in the first place.
BY ZOLA PINDA:
Former s National Assembly Speaker, Baleka Mbete, who presided over the parliamentary session where the ANC decision to dissolve the Scorpions was translated into legislation. (Image: IOL)
Professor Xolela Mangcu has posed an important question: what kind of democracy can survive when the institutions of the democratic state lose competence, integrity and public trust?
His recent argument for a “meritocratic democracy” is provocative precisely because it challenges the comfortable assumption that elections, p...