It beggars belief that South Africa's democratic process may actually have prevailed (for now). After one year and 20 or so days, has a grassroots civil society movement succeeded where opposition parties have failed? Frankly, no. The bill being pulled at the 11th hour has more to do with internal ANC squabbles than civil society pressure. And that theory may have merit.
Before the ANC parliamentary caucus met on Monday, 19 September 2011, at 2pm to debate whether the bill should be withdrawn, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe had all but announced that the bill would be withdrawn. And by the time the caucus meeting began, it was confirmed that the bill would be withdrawn, reinforcing the idea that the decision had been made over the weekend at the ANC's national executive committee and that the caucus's function was to rubber-stamp it. This left Motshekga with just one question to answer. Why?
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