Bishops praise voters’ ‘maturity’

South africa’s Catholic bishops are “very pleased” with this week’s local election results, which were the worst in the history of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), according to the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) spokesman, Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria.

Archbishop Slattery told The Tablet on Monday, as results showed a significant decline in ANC support, that “democracy has been a winner and the results accepted”. He felt there was “growing maturity” in the electorate as millions of voters have been willing to look beyond the liberation struggle credentials of the party that helped liberate South Africa from white minority rule two decades ago.

The SACBC spokesman said the ANC itself will be reflecting on whether President Jacob Zuma “is a plus or a negative factor”. Mr Zuma’s view expressed in 2008 that the ANC would be in power “until the Second Coming” is now, according to Archbishop Slattery “crumbling”. The ANC, which won 62 per cent in 2011 elections, won 54 per cent in last week’s polls, losing the key urban areas of Pretoria and Port Elizabeth and looking for coalition partners in Johannesburg.

Archbishop Slattery highlighted the issues that have led many voters to turn away from the ANC, referring to a 15 July bishops’ statement addressed to “the Catholic community and people of goodwill”. The bishops called for ethical leadership, citing “unemployment, the rising cost of living, household debt, lack of basic resources, the slow pace of service delivery, and high levels of crime”.  

“We are now in an era which demands coalition government,” reflected Archbishop Slattery, arguing that greater involvement of the centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA), which took 27 per cent of the vote, and the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 8 per cent, would benefit the country.

The interdenominational South African Council of Churches (SACC) commended the absence of street protests demanding a rejection of the results and of troops threatening the integrity of the country’s democracy. The SACC also said that South Africa was entering a new phase in its constitutional democracy, “the age of coalition governance”.

“Negotiation and compromise will have to be the way of doing business,” it said in a statement.