Famous Last Words

"...under the talented leadership of Mr Alan Murphy, EcoPeace will win at least 10 seats in the next election."
- petition circulated by Alan Murphy, 2004

EcoPeace won its seat in 2000 because it was not just a party, and lost it in 2006 because it was just another party, and one which had dishonoured its promises, at that.

The transformation of the old Ecoparty into EcoPeace consisted precisely of embarking on a radical critique of the bourgeois representative model of democracy which, by establishing political representation as a career niche, entrenches yet another form of elitism.

Not only would the economic incentive be minimised, EcoPeace promised voters in 2000, but the specialised knowledge which on which councillors base their supposed indispensability, would be shared by a collective, so that the actual identity of the occupant of the seat was not crucial, as long as the participation of the Councillor Support And Reference Group (CSARG) distributed control over the interaction between EcoPeace as a whole, and council structures.

Furthermore, the founding consensus of EcoPeace declared, conventional campaigning with its wasteful, distasteful self-promotions would be replaced by letting our record speak for itself. By funding developmental grassroots projects, we would grow support throughout the electoral cycle.

Those were the days...

Under the Stealth Constitution (see Preliminary Posting), the CSARG is replaced by a Caucus, to consist of (at least a majority of) EcoPeace Councillors. This contributed to Alan's becoming a laughing stock among his fellow councillors, long before the Speaker called him a comedian (is EcoPeace paying for Alan's defamation suits?): for example, whereas the old collective, having majority black and working class input, would have made a more telling point via its councillor, Alan chose to accuse the ANC of "murder", since it persists in authorising water cutoffs and restrictions. He cited the scientific fact that people die without water within a few days. This let the ANC councillors off the hook as they could dismiss it as overblown rhetoric.

This is not just an off-the-cuff remark, or something I heard from my contacts in the ANC caucus (where Murphy was known, with characteristic unselfconsciousness, as "Moffie"). No, this melodramatic-to-the-point-of-trivialising accusation was trumpeted from the rooftops in the form of a media release, and circulated to various email lists. I guess the ANC councillors don't have a monopoly on unselfconsciousness.

The ghastly reality that they should have been confronted with is that people whose municipal water is cut off, usually end up buying it in containers, or at least having to fetch it from afar, and sometimes from low quality sources. This DOES lead to deaths, not from thirst but from the consequences of reduced sanitation - most markedly, infant mortality.

The other spectacular departure from the ethos of 2000, has been the campaign style. I don't know if socalled consultants were employed, but the rash of free T-shirts and mass-produced posters, was enough evidence of a reversion to conventional party politics. Whereas our cost per vote was below 10 cents in 2000, I would guess several rand this time. But then it was to be money well spent, wasn't it, since EcoPeace would get "10 councillors", a "million to spend per year","the balance of power", "a seat in Exco"(this latter occupied no doubt by the CEO, a notable Visven wannabe)?

The 18-month joyride is over.

The challenge now is for democratically minded members of EcoPeace who are open-minded enough to confront the evidence, to realise they have had wool pulled over their eyes, and to seek a return to real democracy, instead of the "low-intensity" version they have survived. In other words, to put the house in order. Find out where every cent has gone. Draw all members into the constitutional process. Compare election promises and actual performance. Stuff like that.

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