South Africans have learnt that democracy isn’t simply a destination that they reached with the formal end of apartheid on 27 April 1994. It is also a lifelong quest to keep up the pressure against corruption, and on elected representatives to deliver on their promises.
A significant proportion of political contestation comes from tussling and lobbyists for a variety of single-issue organisations. The environmentalists, for example, take up issues such as management of radio-active waste; fossil fuel power stations, and air and water pollution. Protests, street marches, media polemics are all part of this.
