Are we heading towards a managed democracy in SA?

The ruling class - whether the economic or the political elite - love secrecy, and big business as we all know is usually the originator of corruption, so they do not want that exposed.

The crude analysis, coming from many in the ANC, that says media ownership explains journalists' opposition to the Bill does not explain, for example, the New Age's opposition - they're owned by Pres. Zuma's friends the Guptas; nor the generally critical  tone of the public broadcaster; and the small but spunky Mail and Guardian is not owned by big business but by a Zimbabwean, Trevor Ncube.  This analysis betrays a shallow understanding of how media really works.  Yes, ownership and diversity issues are critical, but it is much more complex than that. 

Journalists, if they are true to their profession (which is to uncover the truth, in the public interest), do not like censorship or blockages to information, and they push for maximum openness.  The onus should always be on government, or corporations, to make the case that certain types of information (for security reasons, or for market competitive reasons) be kept secret - and that should be kept to the absolute minimum.

Democracy thrives on maximum openness - empowering the people with transparency and knowledge about what rulers do in their name.  This Bill still errs on the side of excessive secrecy.  In other words, as Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said today, the Bill is unbalanced in favour of secrecy.

The ANC faction in power today will regret passing this Bill when their faction is not in power tomorrow - the tenderpreneur faction, fronted by ANCYL president Julius Malema, does not support this Bill for nothing.  His iron rule over the Limpopo province, as suggested by Fiona Forde in her recent biography of him, will extend to the whole country.

What we are heading towards, if we allow it, is not the mass participatory democracy promised by the RDP, but a more ominous Russian-type managed democracy, or low intensity democracy - try and keep maximum power at the centre, put cronies in to run constitutionally  independent bodies, and rule from the top down, with elections and one-dimensional 'majoritarianism' as your source of legitimacy.

Big business is happy with this, as long as they have freedom to make profit.  They only complain if their ability to accumulate comes under threat.  Otherwise they have no real interest in democracy (except a managed 'democracy', which also legitimizes their right to accumulate).

Workers, on the other hand, understand the need for maximum transparency and access to information -  from their government at all levels (as well as from the companies where they work, or from which they buy or suffer their pollution).  This is why Cosatu, coming from a bottom-up democratic culture, opposes this Bill.  The SACP, with its its top-down 'vanguardist' legacy, will live to regret its collusion on this, when they no longer sit in government.