On November 7, Helen Suzman would have been 100 years old. There were numerous tributes to her on the day, but one in particular stands out as difficult to understand. The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF), the formal custodian of her legacy, invited former ANC deputy president and SA president Kgalema Motlanthe to deliver the annual Helen Suzman Memorial Lecture.
There have, to date, been 10 Suzman memorial lectures, though the first, in 2008, took the form of a panel discussion between the late Colin Eglin, former leader of the Progressive Federal Party and the official opposition, and the late Kader Asmal, former ANC minister of education.
Since then, the speakers have been: Mamphela Ramphele (2009); Judge Meyer Joffe (2010); Judge Kate O’Regan (2011); Prof Jonathan Jansen (2012); Judge Zakeria Mohammed Yacoob (2013); former minister in the presidency Trevor Manuel (2014); former governor of the Reserve Bank Gill Marcus (2015); former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke (2016); and now, Motlanthe.
That represents a curious collection of people. It’s more curious still, if you look only at the past four years. Manuel, Marcus and Motlanthe were all members of the ANC national executive committee. But it is with regard to those names that do not appear on the list that one really scratches one’s head: no Tony Leon, no Helen Zille, no Mmusi Maimane. How is it that, politically at least, the memorial lecture has become a platform for ANC politicians?
Even Ramphele, who this year said: "Liberalism is a world view that has not only reached a ceiling globally, but is unlikely to be an effective mobilising force in our diverse society," has had the privilege of delivering the lecture, ahead of those politicians steeped in the liberal tradition, or at least formally charged with upholding it.
When the current head of the HSF, Francis Antonie, took over from Raenette Taljaard in 2009, he inherited an institution that had lost all sight of its liberal mandate. Completely seduced by the power and influence of the ANC’s hegemony, a July edition of its quarterly publication Focus contained no less than five speeches from Jacob Zuma, as well as contributions from Manuel, Pravin Gordhan, Mac Maharaj, Sipho Seepe and even Paul Ngobeni, to this day a fugitive from justice in the US.
At the time, Taljaard had defended that approach by saying the foundation was "trying to promote a broad discussion of the liberal values entrenched in the bill of rights and the constitution, such as tolerance and respect for different views".
Antonie has done excellent work in turning the ship around. Focus, for one, no longer reads like a government communications pamphlet; it is rather, as it should be, a collection of primarily liberal thoughts and analysis of the SA condition. None of that is to suggest it should be absolutely exclusive in this fashion — but HSF exists, to quote its own mandate, to promote liberal constitutional democracy. If it is going to indulge any other ideology, it should be to critique it.
You can be sure the ANC never has invited Tony Leon to deliver an Oliver Tambo Memorial Lecture, and never will
This idea that liberalism necessitates liberal institutions to act as no more than facilitators for every other world view is one of the reasons liberals are trodden on. And it’s a one-way street. You can be sure the ANC never has invited Leon (and never will invite him) to deliver an Oliver Tambo Memorial Lecture, or Zille to write an article for any of its in-house publications. In short, you cannot promote liberalism if you spend all your time promoting everyone else. And besides, that’s what newspaper opinion pages are for.
But when it comes to the Helen Suzman Memorial Lecture, it is far more difficult to understand Antonie’s thinking. Perhaps there is a belief that an endorsement from the likes of Motlanthe, a former president, adds credibility to Suzman and the liberal cause. But then, that is how hegemony works. It makes you believe legitimacy is to be found in the approval of those you oppose.
Perhaps there is a belief that Motlanthe is himself a liberal. That is hard to stomach. He once said: "You must intensively hate capitalism and engage in a struggle against it, as there will always be exploitation in a capitalist system."
That is before you consider he was complicit in ANC policies such as cadre deployment and scandals like the Virodene affair, a toxic industrial solvent that former president Thabo Mbeki promoted as a cure for HIV/Aids. Motlanthe, among others, helped destroy the Medicines Control Council, arguing at the time that "I surmise that the council is driven by other interests than concern for proper control of medicines", legitimising the political assault on the council which would follow.
Motlanthe said nice things about Suzman. As did Manuel and Marcus. Even Asmal, whose distaste for liberal thought was profound and well documented, was polite.
But then they return to their world, the world of Mbeki or Zuma, African nationalism and group-think. Manuel for one, didn’t use his lecture to defend his advocacy for quotas. They all know, on the day, one must play nice. When school time is over, they can revert to type.
There is a price to pay for all this. The HSF is alienating its allies. In a tribute to Suzman, Leon described how Mbeki had turned viciously on her in January 2005, as the likes of Manuel and Motlanthe quietly looked on.
It was the DA who defended her. But the DA cannot seem to get a foot in the door when it comes to the lecture dedicated to her honour. Outside of a number of worthy members of the bench, and with the possible exception of Jansen, it seems hard for any liberal to crack the nod.
The sad truth, however, is that it doesn’t really matter. The lecture is not a significant part of the annual SA calendar. It is not an event towards which the media turns in unison and with some serious expectation. It is a place for friends and enemies to shake hands, talk about the good old days and share a cup of tea.
If it is the arena for the battle of ideas you seek, where causes are fought for and hard truths spoken, the Helen Suzman Memorial Lecture is not the place for you. It is the bar to which you retire after your fight, to tell anecdotes and share stories.
It’s ironic, really. If anything, Suzman was a fighter — one person against a legion of nationalists, standing up for an idea no-one was prepared to listen to. You wonder what she would make of her own lecture today.
In his talk, Motlanthe said: "Suzman dared to speak truth to power."
What would SA debate be today without the cliché? But whatever, that is not what the Helen Suzman Memorial Lecture is about. It is about facilitating power, and a damn fine job it does of it.
One day, perhaps, if the DA does get into national government, it too will be allowed to have its say.
I guess we should just be grateful Suzman herself never adopted that attitude.
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